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Journalism of Courage
The DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) is divided over hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. The DMK and PMK, constituents of the UPA, defended the hike as ‘‘inevitable’’ and demanded that the state government reduce the sales tax on these products to the lessen the burden on the people.
But the MDMK and Left parties, which support the government from outside, termed the hikes ‘‘avoidable’’ and called for a roll back.
Both DMK president M. Karunanidhi and PMK founder Dr. S Ramadoss pointed out that the sales tax on these products was quite high.
Karunanidhi said Jayalalithaa’s assertion that the state government would not raise bus fares despite the hike was only made with an eye on the forthcoming assembly elections.
Insisting that there would be no need to raise us fares, he said that Rs. 81.6 lakh a day additional burden on the State Transport Undertakings, could easily be offset by the additional revenue of Rs. 3.1 cr a day on account of sales tax on these products.
However, MDMK general secretary Vaiko said that the hike, which was the fourth in a year, would severely affect people, especially the middle class. The increase in the diesel price would, besides affecting the farmers, lead to an all-round rise in prices.
Stating that the government should have accepted the alternative suggested by the left parties, he demanded immediate withdrawal of the hike.
CPM state secretary N. Varadarajan and CPI central committee member R. Nallakannu, in a joint statement, condemned the price hike and said that their cadres would agitate against the hike on June 28.
The CPM and CITU have been organising impromptu protests in various parts the state since the announcement of the hike on Monday morning.
