The Budget session of the Lok Sabha started on a stormy note on Thursday with non-Congress parties, including United Progressive Alliance allies like the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and the Trinamool Congress slamming the hike in petrol and diesel prices and demanding a roll back.
The issue was raised in the House as soon as it convened, with Samajwadi Party and Left parties leading the attack on the government, for raising the price of petrol by Rs four and diesel by Rs two.
They were joined by members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party and Telugu Desam Party. The furore forced two adjournments during the Question Hour. The House was later adjourned for the day when it met after the lunch recess.
Sharif-ud Shariq of National Conference, which is also an ally of the government, said the 'sincerity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi could not be questioned and suggested that an all-party meeting be called to find a way out. The issue was raised by Communist Party of India member Gurudas Dasgupta, who said the decision would have a cascading effect on the prices of other commodities.
He was critical of the announcement outside Parliament just a day before the Budget Session was to commence. Dasgupta said it amounted to "grave Parliamentary impropriety".
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD president Lalu Prasad and CPI-M member Basudeb Acharia also attacked the government for hiking the prices of petrol and diesel, saying it would put a burden on common people.
Prasad, who was previously part of the UPA government, suggested that Sonia Gandhi had not been given 'proper advice'. Demanding revoking of the decision, he said it had been taken at the 'most inappropriate time' and would 'tarnish the image' of the Congress.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party is also extending support to the government, said the Congress president should intervene to ensure a rollback as the country is facing a 'serious crisis' because of the failure of monsoon, especially in northern India.
Accusing the government of 'violating Parliamentary propriety', BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the move to hike petrol and diesel prices "raises suspicion as to which companies will be benefited by this decision."
"The government has been saying that the public sector oil companies have been making profits and giving dividends to it. Then why this secrecy," she asked. Swaraj attacked the Congress for 'betraying' the common people and added that only the withdrawal of the hike could resolve matters.
On a sarcastic note, Akali Dal's Rattan Singh Ajnala said the new government had given a 'big gift' to the people on the first day of the budget session.
Independent member Inder Singh Namdhari said nearly 3,000 farmers of Palamau in Jharkhand had written to the President seeking permission to commit suicide because the government has done nothing to save them from the drought conditions prevailing in the region for the past three years.
"You have only added salt to their injury by increasing diesel prices," he said. Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M Thambidurai, Forward Bloc leader Narahari Mahato and SP leader Shailendra Kumar demanded immediate withdrawal of the hike. They said dams, reservoirs and ponds have dried up and there was no other option for the poor but to depend on diesel for irrigating their fields using pumps.
