Cong. allies TMC & DMK demands roll back fuel price hike

The raise in customs and excise duties in the Union Budget presented on Friday led to a hike in petrol and diesel prices from midnight Friday.

Any decision which may cause more hardship to common people and poor should be reversed or put on hold, said Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandopadhayay.

"Rolling back is not something new. We hope good sense will prevail," Bandopadhayay said in Kolkata on Saturday.

Trinamool Congress took to streets protest on Saturday in Kolkata against the fuel price hike.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was also angry with service tax on transportation of goods through railway. She was upset that the decision was not even discussed with her ministry.

DMK on Saturday demanded rollback of fuel price hike with DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi writing letters to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi, reports said.

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also hit the streets protesting the fuel price hike.

"It is an anti-poor, anti-middle class and anti-farmer budget. The Congress Party is totally insensitive to the sufferings of the people," said BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu.

In an unprecedented gesture, the Opposition walked out of Parliament during Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget speech proposing the duty hikes.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee ruled out a rollback categorically.