Oil hike -- Left shoots off protest

Oil hike -- Left shoots off protest
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, OCT 2: With Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee all set to reap from her resignation stance linked to the oil price hike, the Left Front today registered a similar protest on the issue.

Not wanting to let Mamata become the champion of the lower-middle classes without a tough competition, West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, registering his ``strong protest''.

Catching on the popular reponse to Mamata and her Trinamool colleague Ajit Panja's resignation from the Vajpayee Cabinet belatedly, the CPI-M tried to usurp the issue by calling her a bluff.

``She (Mamata) was a party to the decision. She attended the meeting in which all the NDA members extended support to the oil price hike. She can't fool the people,'' CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechuri said.

However, the Left's keeness to prove that it is they and not Mamata who are the real protesters on the price hike underlined the fact that the petro price hike is likely to become a big issue in the West Bengal Assembly elections next year.

Worse still, Mamata, by being the first to take a stance against the hike, seems to have scored over the Left Front government, which tried to downplay Mamata's resignation as a ``drama'' enacted to fool the people.

``It's a well calculated move. They (Trinamool-BJP) have a tacit understanding. After the prices are increased, she decides to resign from the Cabinet. Whether she is pulling out of the NDA Government or not is kept vague,'' the CPI-M spokesperson said.

Already hit by the Election Commission's order and the law-and-order failure propaganda by the BJP-led government at the Centre, the CPI-M tried to act brave by saying: ``The people will see through the game.''

Meanwhile, Basu in Calcutta said: ``It was a unanimous Cabinet decision. Banerjee was present there. The Prime Minister has said it.''