Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president B.S. Gnanadesikan
has criticised Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for condemning the
hike in price of petrol.  In a statement here, he wondered how
the Chief Minister who had attributed her decision to raise the
electricity tariff to the loss suffered by the Tamil Nadu
Generation and Distribution Corporation, refused to accept that
the petrol price hike was because of the huge losses suffered by
the oil marketing companies (OMCs) because of the highly-
subsidised petroleum products.  Mr. Gnandesikan, who conceded
that the petrol price hike had hurt the people, especially the
two-wheeler and autorickshaw users, pointed out that the import
of crude at $ 117 per barrel had been causing huge losses to the
oil marketing companies that had to import as much as 80 per
cent of the country's total requirement.  There was a vast gap
between the procurement price and the selling price of various
petroleum products.  The government had to foot a subsidy bill
of Rs. 14 per litre an