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TC MPs Likely To Meet PM On Nov 8

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[Trinamool Congress MPs are likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi on November 8 against the backdrop of the UPA ally's threat to pull out of the government on the petrol price rise issue. "After a talk with the Prime Minister, we will return here on November 9 and report to party supremo Mamata Banerjee who will take the final call," Chief Whip of Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay told PTI Sunday. "I have sent a letter to the PMO seeking an appointment on November 8. I am expecting that the appointment will be fixed on November 8 since the PMO told me that he (Singh) will be abroad on November 9", said Bandyopadhyay, also a Union minister. He said he would leave for Delhi tomorrow and other MPs would reach the capital on November 8. Trinamool Congress has 18 members in the Lok Sabha. The TC parliamentary party has already authorised the party chief to take the decision in the matter after they decided on November 4 to pull out of the government if there was no rollback. Bandyopadhyya said, "We'll express our concern to the prime minister. There is a huge lack of co-ordination among the constituents in the UPA. No meeting is held with the allies before taking policy decisions. We want to express our sentiments to the prime minister. "We are a pro-people party. Fuel prices were hiked 11 times in 12 months," he said. Pawar Backs Govt Against the backdrop of the Trinamool Congress' threat to pull out of UPA over the petrol price rise, NCP chief Sharad Pawar backed the government Sunday on the issue. "There is no point in blaming the govt for increase in the domestic prices (of fuel) as they are related to fluctuations in the international markets," Pawar said defending Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on deregulation of the fuel prices. On Trinamool Congress' threat to withdraw from the UPA government, Pawar said, "Our stand is to remain with the government." Asked to comment on the Prime Minister's remarks on deregulation, Pawar said Singh was an economist of international repute and he (Pawar) was not a "super economist" to comment on what the Prime Minister had said. The Prime Minister has justified the hike in petrol prices, saying there should be further movement towards deregulation of fuel prices. "Well that is the general direction in which we should move. I think the move to decontrol the prices is a part of that process," Singh had said. The Prime Minister's comments had assumed significance in the context of stiff opposition to the hike in petrol prices under the deregulated system. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had claimed on Friday that her party and allies like the NCP and the DMK were not consulted on the petrol price hike. (PTI)