Less than 24 hours after announcing the Rs 4-a-litre hike for petrol, the Government plans to roll it back by one rupee while maintaining the diesel hike at Rs 2 per litre.The rollback will result in oil marketing companies losing Rs 777 crore, a loss that has to be absorbed by the companies themselves.For the record, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, who was categorical yesterday that there would be no rollback, kept his options open today by saying “nothing could be ruled out’’.Officials said the decision to reduce the petrol hike to Rs 3 a litre was taken after Deora met Congress party president Sonia Gandhi this evening.The meeting came as all parties, including Congress, BJP and Left, raised a furore with the BJP and the Left announcing nationwide protests.“As far as we are concerned, whatever happened yesterday in the Cabinet stands. nothing can be ruled out,” the minister told reporters after his Sonia meeting.Deora claimed the government was responsive to the needs of the people and would abide by the party’s decision, which demanded a partial rollback. ‘‘Whatever the high command decides, we will have to abide by,’’ he said.A formal announcement of the rollback is likely to be made after the Cabinet reviews its decision. ‘‘It cannot happen at my level,’’ Deora said.Sources said that the rollback would be delayed until the end of this week by when the government expects the dust raised by the Left to settle down.Incidentally, after the rollback, the price increase will be the same as what Deora’s Ministry has been advocating since last month: A hike of Rs 3 per litre in petrol and Rs 2 on diesel, with no change in LPG and kerosene prices.
