Petrol price hike: AIADMK to protest on May 29

Chennai, May 27: In a move to upstage arch rival DMK, which has given a protest call on May 30, the ruling

on Saturday announced demonstrations on May 29 against the "unprecedented"

in petrol price and to demand its immediate rollback.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa said in a statement that the Congress-led UPA government seems to be ignoring people's protest and was not respecting public sentiments.

She said the demonstration would be held in front of central government offices in all district headquarters in the state as also in Puducherry, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi and the Andamans.

The demonstration would focus on the Centre's failure to control the price rise, fall in Rupee, inflation and the "Guinness record" hike of Rs 7.50 per litre of petrol, she said.

She said DMK, a UPA constituent, and its leader M Karunanidhi, instead of forcing the Centre to rollback the prices were only enacting an 'eye-wash drama' by announcing the protest on May 30.

She had earlier criticised the hike saying this was a 'gift' to the people by the UPA government on completion of three years in office.

Holding that the UPA government's 'wrong' economic policies were responsible for the price rise, steep Rupee depreciation and economic slowdown, she had said the latest petrol price hike had only added "fuel to the fire".

PTI