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New Delhi: Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee’s move to hike central duty on petrol and diesel
has set the Congress-led government on a collision course with the
opposition and other parties.
The announcement, coming a day after the two houses of parliament
discussed price rise has provided a rallying point to the
opposition.
Some of parties
which extended outside support to the United Progressive Alliance
government — like the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)
and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — have joined hands with the
opposition on the issue of price rise.
“We oppose the
government on the issue of price rise. The budget has nothing for
the common man,” Vijay Bahadur Singh, BSP MP from Hamirpur, told
IANS.
The BSP joined
other opposition parties during Friday’s walk-out from the Lok Sabha
while Mukherjee was still making his budget speech, the first
incident during budget presentation.
The opposition
parties earlier cautioned the government against hiking price of
petrol and diesel prices.
SP leader
Mulayam Singh Yadav said the decision to hike central tax on petrol
and diesel had come within hours of discussion in parliament on
price rise.
The BSP, SP and
RJD, which have their differences with the Congress, together have
47 MPs in the 545-member Lok Sabha and can create trouble for the
government if they side with the opposition during vote on a cut
motion.
However, the
government did not betray signs of any nervousness.
Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the government was
“confident” of getting its financial agenda through.
On the
possibility of withdrawing tax hike on petroleum products, Bansal
said the excise duty had earlier been reduced to offset increase in
international prices of crude oil and Mukherjee’s announcement was
actually a “rollback”.
Though the
government is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of
parliament has no statutory authority to defeat a finance bill.
The Left
parties, which have to face a resurgent Trinamool Congress-Congress
alliance in the next year’s West Bengal assembly polls, indicated
that larger opposition unity on price rise will continue.
“The opposition
is united. We will carry the movement forward,” Communist Party of
India-Marxist leader Basudeb Acharia said.
The Congress
said the budget had spelt out the government’s thrust on improving
the lot of poorer sections while also taking care of growth
imperatives.
Party leader
Salman Khursheed said much thought had gone into the process of
budget formation and the government will fulfil all its commitments.
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