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Left to organise protest against petrol price hike
He said details about the protests would be worked out in a day or two after consultations among Left parties.
Left parties on Monday strongly criticised the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel and decided to organise nationwide agitation demanding immediate rollback of the "unjustifiable" decision.
"We will hit the streets against the unjustifiable price hike. The protests would be in the form of demonstrations, sit-ins and rallies," CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said in New Delhi.
He said details about the protests would be worked out in a day or two after consultations among Left parties which provide key outside support to the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
Lashing out at the government for increasing the prices of petro products, CPI called asked all sections of the society to wage a nationwide agitation till the decision is reversed.
"We strongly oppose the government decision. Already, there is a steep increase in the prices of essential commodities and the oil price hike will have a cascading effect, which will increase the burden on poor people," CPI National Secretary D Raja said in New Delhi.
He said Left parties had sent a note to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting ways to avoid the price hike but the government did not pay heed to their proposals.
"Had the government listened to us, the hike could have been avoided," he added.
Government has decided to hike petrol price by Rs 4 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre but spared any hike in retail selling price of domestic cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene for Public Distribution System (PDS).
