A protest rally to put pressure on the Central Government over the increase in fuel price will be held by the Left parties on Friday.

Its stand for a cut motion during the Finance Bill debate has been reiterated by the Left and it wants a rollback of the Rs 3 fuel hike as announced in the Union Budget.

Their intentions of bringing a cut motion, after the fuel hike was announced, were made clear by the CPM.

As it worked closely with the government for the successful passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, the party was silent on this issue.

While food inflation eased marginally to 17.81 per cent in the last week of February, fuel inflation rose to 11.38 per cent because of a hike in petrol and diesel prices.

Concerns have been raised by the rise in the fuel price index about inflation spreading to the rest of the economy.

There will be no rollback on the recent increase in fuel prices as the Congress Government has already made it clear.

The tax on fuel would increase inflation by 0.4 percent, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said. (With Inputs from Agencies)