Left parties plan ‘rasta roko’ on June 9 against hike in fuel prices

The Left parties have announced State-wide ‘rasta roko’ on June 9 against the repeated increase in petrol and diesel prices. They have accused the NDA government at the Centre of pursuing authoritarian and anti-people policies, which, they say, are placing a heavy burden on the common people.

The decision to stage protest was taken at a meeting here on Thursday under the chairmanship of CPI(ML) leader Jasti Kishore Babu.

Leaders from the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) New Democracy, CPI(ML) Liberation, and MCPI (U) participated, while those from the RSP, Forward Bloc and SUCI (C) extended their support to the resolutions adopted at the meeting.

Later, addressing the media, CPI(M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said the Centre had increased petrol and diesel prices four times in the recent months, and warned that further hikes were likely. The Left parties would organise awareness campaigns, pamphlet distribution drives, public meetings and seminars from June 1 to 7.

Mr. Srinivasa Rao alleged that nearly ₹54 in the price of petrol consisted of Central and State taxes, and criticised governments for failing to reduce taxes despite rising fuel costs.

The leaders demanded that 50% of the oil and gas produced from the KG Basin be allocated to Andhra Pradesh and urged the Centre to continue crude oil imports from Russia and Iran. They opposed handing over the newly discovered gas and oil reserves near Kaza to private companies and sought government control over the resources.

Terming ED raids on former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as politically motivated, the leaders accused the Centre of misusing investigative agencies against opposition party leaders.

Y. Venkateswara Rao of CPI(M), Harinath Reddy of CPI, Chittipati Venkateswarlu and Polari of CPI(ML) New Democracy, Harinath of CPI(ML) Liberation, and Ganesh of MCPI(U) participated.