New Delhi: A cut in petrol and diesel prices likely to be announced in Parliament on Wednesday. The move follows a suggestion to this effect by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in a speech to the Congress Parliamentary Party here on Tuesday. Her proposal to pass on the benefit of lower international oil prices to the people was taken up quickly later in the day with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora scheduling a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the issue.

Mr. Deora told reporters that a decision would be taken after he met the Prime Minister.

"A decision will be taken after that... the decision would be announced in Parliament tomorrow," he said. Referring to Ms. Gandhi's comments, he said she had suggested cutting prices in line with the fall in international oil prices. "The government will consider that," he said.

Ms. Gandhi, addressing the CPP meeting earlier in the day, had described the issue of rising oil prices as a "matter of concern" for her party. She noted that despite the government's best efforts not to pass on the entire burden to the consumer, the steep rise in prices had caused hardship to the people. She said that when the international prices of crude oil came down a few weeks ago, she had discussed the possibility of decreasing prices of some petroleum products in the country with the Prime Minister. "He had assured me then that he would look into the matter. I am sure this is under active consideration," he said.

Walkout in Lok Sabha

The Left parties also staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha to register their protest against the failure of the Government to reduce the prices of petroleum products despite a dip in the price of international crude. They were joined by the Samajwadi Party and later by the entire Opposition.

While the issue was raised by Prabhunath Singh (Janata Dal-United) as a matter of public importance and saw many Left leaders echo similar concerns, the decision to walk out was taken when the government remained silent on the issue. Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India) pointed out the government was always quick to raise the price of petroleum products whenever crude oil became dearer internationally. He sought to know why there was never a corresponding decrease in petroleum products when global prices dipped.

Referring to media reports suggesting an announcement of a reduction in prices of petroleum products on Wednesday, other members demanded that Parliament be taken into confidence first. Rup Chand Pal (CPI-Marxist) demanded that a price stabilisation fund be set up so that steep increases in international crude can be absorbed by the Government and oil companies.

BJP criticises Sonia

The Bharatiya Janata Party criticised Sonia Gandhi for talking about controlling inflation but doing nothing about it.

The BJP leader, V.K. Malhotra, told reporters that petrol prices should have been rolled back quite some time earlier. He felt there was no point merely expressing concern about the issue since it was her own government.

Oil companies, however, continue to point out that they are still incurring losses on sales of diesel though petrol is sold at a profit. Latest estimates are that petrol sales are yielding a profit of Rs 4.50 a litre, while diesel sales are incurring a loss of Rs 0.45 a litre.

The Indian basket of crude oils was about $ 67 a barrel, when petrol and diesel prices were last raised in June 2006, as against current prices of $ 57 to 58 a barrel.

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