Opposition all geared up to put pressure on the government over fuel price hike

Opposition all geared up to put pressure on the government over fuel price hikeUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies will be briefed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on fuel price hike issue today.

According to the sources the Centre is going to brief its allies, the Left, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Significantly, the estranged partners of the UPA- RJD, SP and the BSP parties are lending outside support to Dr Singh's Government and are also in sync with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in not letting the opportunity be wasted on embarrassing the UPA Government on the issue.

Due to the protests by opposition over the fuel price hike, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was adjourned till noon on Wednesday.

Placing the Central Government under pressure after a four-day break, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Opposition has demanded a rollback on the fuel hike.

The BJP has planned to take Opposition unity on this issue to a new plane even as the Left parties decided to step up pressure on the government leading to its March 12 rally in the capital against rise in the prices of essential commodities.

The strategy on this issue will be planned by opposition today and other subjects at a meeting of National Democratic Alliance leaders.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was criticized by BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday for the "arrogance of power" displayed in his assertion that there would be no rollback of the increased taxes on petroleum products announced in the budget. (With input from agencies)