Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee told all 24 of her MPs on Sunday to be present in New Delhi on Tuesday, when the party expects to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the petroleum price hike.

On Thursday, oil companies raised the price of petrol, whose pricing has been decontrolled, by
Rs 1.82 per litre. Banerjee alleged that her party, which is part of the central ruling dispensation, was not consulted on the matter.

Trinamool Congress sources stated the party delegation would not accept anything short of an immediate intervention by the Prime Minister.

Alternatively, the party, which has 18 Lok Sabha MPs (reduced by one from 19 when Banerjee resigned to become West Bengal chief minister), is considering taking to the streets.

“All MPs have been asked to be present in Delhi on (November 8). Tomorrow (November 7) is Eid and our MPs will be busy in their constituencies. Moreover, it is a government holiday,” said Mukul Roy, all India general secretary of the Trinamool and union minister of state for shipping.

On Saturday, Trinamool MPs held an emergency meeting and concluded that support to the central government should be withdrawn. The Trinamool supremo, however, said she was ready to wait for the Prime Minister, who is abroad, to come back to the country and looked forward to a rollback in the petrol price.

“Our party chief has made our stand clear. We will tell the Prime Minister such steps (petroleum price hike) are against the interests of the common people and we cannot compromise on that issue,” said Roy.