Monday, June 20 2005 15:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Veteran Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) politburo member Jyoti Basu today (Jun 20, 2005) flayed the Centre's decision to hike the prices of petrol and diesel from midnight tonight and said the Left parties would take up the issue in the next session of Parliament as well as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left coordination committee meeting.

"We are totally opposed to the hike. We were protesting against any hike and had suggested alternative measures. Discussions were on and they UPA Government had postponed the decision. Now suddenly I find that they have declared a hike," Basu, former West Bengal Chief Minister, told PTI.

Asked whether the Left parties would go for a countrywide protest as threatened earlier, he said CPM will chalk out a strategy regarding this.