Left parties on Monday asked the Congress-led UPA government not to increase the price of natural gas from Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL's) KG basin before discussing the matter in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session.

In a joint press conference, the CPI, CPI-M and RSP said that all concerned ministries as well as the states should be consulted before taking any decision on increasing price of natural gas.

The Left parties said in a statement, "We demand that any price increase should be kept in abeyance and the government should come out with full facts and figures and have a debate with all stakeholders before it pushes ahead with this move."

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury and CPI Gurudas Dasgupta also asked the government to explain why it was in a "hurry" on the matter.

Dasgupta alleged that the union government decided to increase the price of the fuel after being arm-twisted by RIL. He warned that any increase in the fuel's price would hurt the economy by leading to greater agrarian distress and hike the incidences of farmers' suicides.

They claimed the government's plan to hike gas prices would result in "windfall profits" for RIL as well as an increase in the subsidy burden of at least Rs 1.50 lakh crore per annum.