Indian Communists Reduce Petroleum Prices

The Congress and the Communist Party of India on Wednesday agreed to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel.

The Congress said the decision to raise the prices was a result of the prices of international crude firming up and now that they had come down.

Welcoming the slash in prices, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said since the international price of oil was coming down there was no rationale to keep them at the level they were.

The Polit Bureau, in a separate statement, said the decision was "a step forward" and urged the Government to fully remove the burden that it had imposed on consumers in June by reducing it further to the extent of Rs. 4 on petrol and Rs. 2 on diesel.