New Delhi: Though the government has ruled out any immediate rollback in the steep Rs 7.54 a litre hike in petrol prices, Congress on Saturday said it was hopeful that the party`s sensitiveness on the issue will be taken note of.
"When a political party expresses its sensitiveness, we do hope that government will take it into cognizance...Some way will be found out by the central government, the state governments and the oil companies to ease out the burden that was put on comman man," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
He was answering to questions on Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy`s statement yesterday that the government will watch international oil prices and rupee-dollar rate for "a few days" before taking any decision on cutting rates.
Breaking his silence over the hike announced by oil companies, Reddy had said "All political parties including my own party (Congress) are populist... (but) we cannot run the country on populist sentiments".
However, Tewari said the minister has also accepted that Congress is concerned about the hike.
Tewari also refused to comment on the report quoting the remarks of the chief economic advisor of the government that coalition compulsions and an excessively cautious bureaucracy have snagged decision making saying Basu alone can explain in what context he made the remarks.
PTI
