Diesel price hike: Kerala CM Oomen Chandy demands partial withdrawal of the hike

KOCHI: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the Centre should have avoided the hike in diesel prices and demanded at least a partial withdrawal of the increase.

Chandy, who belong to the Congress and heads the UDF government in the state, said here that, "If it is difficult to completely roll back the increase, the Centre should at least reduce the hike."

Both the Congress-led UDF Government as well as CPI(M)-led LDF opposition combine in Kerala said the hike could lead to a further bout of price rise in the state which depends heavily on neighbours for its needs.

The LDF and BJP have given separate calls for dawn-to-dusk hartal tomorrow to protest the decision and demanded roll-back of the hike.

The LDF leaders said the hike amounted to a "declaration of war on people."

In many parts of the state, youth outfits of CPI(M), CPI and BJP took out protest marches immediately after the decision was announced.

Associations of bus and truck operators demanded hike in fares, holding that they would not able to maintain their operations at the current rates in the wake of the diesel price hike.

The government yesterday hiked diesel prices by a steep Rs 5.62 per litre and restricted the supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 cylinders per household in a year to fetch an additional Rs 20,300 crore.