NEW DELHI: The Opposition has called for a Bharat bandh on May 31 to protest the steep hike in petrol prices even as Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy broke his silence on the issue on Friday and said the government will watch international oil prices and rupee-dollar rate for “a few days” before taking a call on cutting rates.Amid growing street protests and unease within his own party, Reddy came out to defend the third price increase in a year and the first in almost seven months, saying the oil companies had exhausted all options. “We are duly conscious of the sense of disturbance among consumers (caused due to the price rise),” he said, adding the hike was necessitated due to “double disaster” of devaluation of rupee against the US dollar and increase in international oil prices. State-owned oil companies had lost over `7,100 crore in two years on selling petrol. Joining the chorus against the hike in petrol price, even key UPA partner DMK announced a state-wide agitation on May 30. The DMK’s decision to hold a protest a day ahead of the Opposition sponsored-bandh comes amid growing protests against the hike, which has also been opposed by other key UPA allies like the Trinamool Congress.
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