When will prices come down, BJP asks PM

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Saturday, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the "date" by which inflation will be brought down.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Saturday, asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the "date" by which inflation will be brought down.

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"We ask Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi to tell us when will inflation be brought down other than repeated statements of it will be brought down," party general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan said while speaking to reporters here.

"Give us a date," he demanded as BJP leaders and workers across the country staged protests against the government's decision Friday to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.

"We strongly condemn this (price hike)," Pradhan said.

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday, said the price of the petrol "will be market determined both at the refinery gate and retail level".

As a result, petrol will now be costlier by Rs.3.5 a litre.

Simultaneously, the government hiked the prices of diesel by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene -- known as the poor man's fuel and traditionally spared during periodic fuel price hikes -- by Rs.3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.