Petrol prices likely to dip, says Pranab

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said petroleum prices are likely to come down with the rate of crude declining in the international market. His statement comes barely a fortnight after the government decided to hike petrol prices by Rs 7.24 a litre.

"There has been a rapid decline in international oil prices in recent weeks." Mukherjee said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had urged the central government to rollback the prices after the hike last month.

The union minister also said, on the sidelines of a meeting in his constituency in Jangipur today, that the central government is likely to discuss the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill with the Trinamool Congress.

"They (TMC) have written to us wanting further discussions. So, let us discuss," he said.

A few days ago, the Trinamool Congress wrote to the Prime Minister asking for discussions on the bill.

Meanwhile, the rift between allies Congress and Trinamool Congress continued to widen in West Bengal with the panchayat elections drawing near and after the recent contest in six West Bengal municipalities.

After Mukherjee said it was for the WBPCC to decide whether the Congress should contest the panchayat elections alone or in alliance with the Trinamool, WBPCC president Pradeep Bhattacharya said if the Trinamool Congress decides to fight the election alone, Congress, too, can do the same.

"I had said several times that if the TMC wanted to contest alone, we are ready for it, but of course it is a political decision and a final decision would be reached only after several rounds of meetings of the party," he said.

Senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan said there was no point debating the issue. "We leave it to the district committees and they in turn let the block committee decide," he said and added that it was a local body election and the three-tier election had its own problems.

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