Petrol price hike soon: Gujral

Prime Minister I K Gujral has indicated that a petrol price hike is on the cards despite the reservations of the Left parties.

Asked if the Communists will let him increase petrol prices within the next four to six weeks, Gujral said, ''May I say yes.... I have complete confidence that they support me on all essential policies.''

A petrol price hike has been in the offing for quite some time in view of the mounting oil pool deficit which is expected to touch about Rs 200 billion in a few months.

The Left parties, constituents of the United Front, have been opposing the hike tooth and nail saying it would badly hit the common man. They have been pressurising the government to find alternative means to overcome the deficit.

Rejecting the demand for his resignation in the wake of the split in the Janata Dal, he said the question did not arise as he was elected as leader of the United Front and not of the Janata Dal. ''I will stay in office as long as I command the confidence of the United Front,'' he said.

Gujral said he was not against the newly-constituted Rashtriya Janata Dal joining the Front.

''As long as the ideological commonality is there, I see no difficulty with the RJD,'' he said.

The prime minister made it clear that he had no intention of sacking the three RJD ministers -- Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jai Narain Nishad and Kanti Singh -- from the Union ministry. Justifying the decision, Gujral cited the case of the Deve Gowda government. He said even after the Congress (T) left the United Front and rejoined the Congress, two of its ministers chose to remain with the UF and even continued as ministers.

Asked if the RJD will be formally admitted into the UF, Gujral said, "I am not the one to answer that. The steering committee will take all such decisions."

The prime minister also denied that he was under pressure from either the Congress or Laloo Yadav and said he commanded credibility which was not ''fragile''.

In reply to a question on Finance Minister P Chidambaram's ''dream Budget'', the prime minister said, ''It is only two months since the Budget had been passed and it is too early to judge the results, going by the figures of revenue. It is only by mid-year that we will be able to take a good look at the outcome and arrive at some conclusions,'' he said.

Asked what action would be taken in case the results were not on the expected lines, the prime minister said, ''I will not like to pre-judge. I also don't like to issue threats and say I will do this or I will do that,'' he said.

India, the prime minister said, had reached a stage where coalition governments were inevitable. Though the United Front ministers come from different political parties, he said there had not been a single occasion when a decision had not been unanimous.

UNI

EARLIER STORY:
Deve Gowda's designs land Gujral in trouble