Rahul meets PM following protests against petrol price hike

New Delhi, Sept 16 (PTI) Rahul Gandhi had a meeting with
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday as government
grappled with the situation arising out of protests against
petrol price hike and demands from United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) allies like Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnettra
Kazhagam (DMK) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for a
rollback.
With the opposition also training its guns on the
government on the issue, the Prime Minister also presided over
a meeting of the Congress Core Group hours after the All India
Congress Committee (AICC) asked government to find a way out
so as to ameliorate the impact of the hike on the common man.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, recuperating after a
surgery last month, was not present at the meeting which was
attended by senior ministers Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, P
Chidambaram and Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed
Patel.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who is not a member of the
Core Group, was also invited for the meeting that lasted for
50 minutes.
There was no official word on what transpired in Gandhi's
meeting with the Prime Minister or at the Core Group.
At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi
said " the party is concerned very much. A way out should be
found and we are sure the government will do it".
He at the same time said the hike was "ïnevitable" as
it has been carried out by oil marketing companies on the
principle of 'no-profit-no-loss'.
The Congress spokesperson, however, refused to comment
when asked about the opposition from UPA's allies to the price
hike and their demand for a rollback.