Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee seems to have pegged the political price of not pulling out her party’s ministers from the UPA government over the petrol price hike.

And the price is a Rs 19,000-crore bailout package from the Centre for debt-ridden West Bengal.

The Trinamool will also press the central government not to effect any more hikes in the prices of diesel, kerosene and petrol.

Twenty-four Trinamool MPs, including 18 from the Lok Sabha, are to meet the PM on Tuesday evening to express their anguish over the recent hike and the lack of coordination between the Congress and its allies on major policy decisions.

Around the same time in Kolkata, Banerjee will meet governor MK Narayanan and union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the fresh bailout package.

Two days after threatening to withdraw its ministers from the UPA government over the hike of Rs 1.82 per litre of petrol, the Trinamool on Monday softened its stand on the issue.

Realising that a rollback of the hike was unlikely after the PM’s categorical approval for deregulation of fuel prices, the Trinamool now wants to resist any such increase in the near future.

“Under no circumstances will we allow any fresh hike,” said Sudip Bandopadhyay, chief whip of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha.

Trinamool insiders said a withdrawal of support to the UPA government would jeopardise the already-announced central package of Rs 21,614 crore and the fresh demand for an additional Rs 19,000 crore.