New Delhi: The Indian federal government may announce a rollback of petrol prices in the wake of widespread criticism and objections raised by several political parties.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to decide on the issue when he returns from Cannes.

The government-owned petroleum companies announced a hike of Rs1.83 per litre of petrol which came into effect on Friday midnight. Petrol prices have gone up by about Rs 17 (Dh1.25) per litre since the beginning of this year.

The oil companies justify the hike saying it was due to increase in crude oil prices and depreciation of the Indian rupee.

While the opposition has come down heavily, terming the hike as anti-people, the Trinamool Congress, the second largest party in the ruling Untied Progressive Alliance (UPA), threatened to bolt the alliance if petrol prices are not rolled back.

Insulted

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress, said her party felt insulted after they were not consulted before the decision to hike petrol prices was made.

"We are accountable to people, can't tolerate this fuel price hike. We are not trying to blackmail the government. We have been insulted many times, we don't even have a room for us in Parliament," Banerjee said.

The Trinamool Congress parliamentary party met in the West Bengal capital Kolkata on Friday and authorised Banerjee to decide on whether the party should pull out of the UPA.

Banerjee made no bones of her annoyance by saying that while the Congress party is dependent upon allies to run the federal government, her party was in absolute majority in the West Bengal assembly. "Our MPs had resolved that if this repeated hike continues we will withdraw support. Somebody must bell the cat," Mamata said.

Banerjee said she will meet the prime minister after he returns from the G-20 Summit.

Aside from the Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the National Conference, both UPA constituents, have also objected to the hike.

BJP accuses UPA of midnight deceit

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that the hike in petrol prices was yet another act of midnight deceit by the UPA and insisted that the common man would not spare the dispensation for its arrogance. "This is yet another midnight deceit with the people of India. The Congress party has unleashed a terror of a different kind on the common man," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.