M A I N   N E W S

Partial rollback announced
LPG cheaper by Rs 10, kerosene by Re 1

NEW DELHI, Nov 19 (UNI) — Bowing to persistent pressure from Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and other allies, the NDA Government tonight decided to partially rollback the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products by lowering that of kerosene by Re 1 and LPG by Rs 10.

The decision was announced by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at a meeting of the coordination committee of the National Democratic Alliance on the eve of the winter session of Parliament beginning tomorrow, Defence Minister and NDA convener George Fernandes told newspersons.

A statement on the rollback will be made by Petroleum Minister Ram Naik on Tuesday.

The meeting, presided by Mr Vajpayee, was held at his residence and was attended by Ms Mamata Banerjee, Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar, Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal, Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, JD (U)’s Sharad Yadav, DMK leader T.R. Balu and Mr Sukh Ram of the Himachal Vikas Party, Home Minister L.K. Advani and BJP President Bangaru Laxman among others.

The impact of the rollback on the exchequer would be to the tune of Rs 139 crore per month, Mr Fernandes said. He said this was worked out when the crude price was $ 30 a barrel which had now gone up to $ 35 per barrel.

In reply to a question whether the Trinamool Congress chief had demanded a total rollback, he said: “Not at all. Ms Banerjee was aware of the compulsions of the government to effect the hike in petroleum prices.”

The meeting also decided that the women’s Reservation Bill would be put up before Parliament to pass it in this session itself.

Mr Fernandes said the question of reduction of government equity in public sector banks also came up for discussion briefly.

TNS adds: Even as Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi today asked all political parties to make proper use of the time during Winter Session of Parliament, Opposition seems determined to give the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance a tough time.

At a meeting held here today Opposition parties decided to go ahead with raising of thorny issues specially the rolling back of the petroleum prices. The Opposition parties, including the Congress have decided to unitedly demand the total rollback of hiked petro-product prices.

The meeting on floor coordination was held at the residence of veteran CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee. It was attended among others by Opposition leaders Madhavrao Scindia (Cong), Ajoy Chakraborty (CPI) and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD).

Samajwadi Party, BSP and NCP leaders could not attend the meeting as they were not in town. The SP and BSP leaders are busy in electioneering in Uttar Pradesh for the local bodies poll.

Left party sources said they have already given a notice for an Adjournment Motion demanding total roll back of the hike as they would not be satisfied with “cosmetic reductions to keep the NDA together”.

They have also reached a consensus on opposing the government’s foreign policy which the parties see as a “deviation” from the national stand so far.

Demands for resignation of the three Union Ministers chargesheeted in the Ayodhya Demolition case and action on the Subrahmanyam Committee report on the Kargil conflict are also likely to be raised during the month-long session.