CPM party general secretary Prakash Karat told newsmen in New Delhi that if the Congress was bent upon increasing fuel prices, it was committing suicide as it would have a cascading effect on prices of all commodities.

When asked if it would not be good for farmers as they would be rid of an anti-farmer government, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said that the farmers would continue to die as there would be nobody to save them.

Left parties would hold another meeting with the United Progressive Alliance leadership on issues related to shortage of uranium fuel, signing of the civil nuclear energy deal with the United States, and rising prices on May 28 and then take a decision whether to continue or withdraw their support to the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

• Petrol price to rise by Rs 10 a litre?

Bardhan charged the UPA government with not implementing the demands put forward by the Left parties to curb price rise.

He accused the government of not strengthening the public distribution system.

While welcoming the record production foodgrains this year, Bardhan wanted to know why wheat and rice procurement could not meet the desired targets in the last two years.

He also launched an attack on deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and said that the Planning Commission was behaving like a 'super Cabinet.' "The UPA had given a firm commitment to the Left parties that the 35 non-metro airports would be modernised by the Airport Authority of India," he said, "but the government went ahead with private participation."

Left parties, like in the past, have left the future course of action on what they called their 'final meeting' with UPA that takes place on May 28.

Karat also confirmed that the UPA government has already held a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and possibly what was agreed by India and IAEA would be discussed there.

Karat said that it is possible that the government would have another round of talks with the IAEA. "We are very clear that the government must get back to us before signing final agreement," Karat said.

He wanted to the Department of Energy or the government of India to explain how the shortage of production of electricity has taken place.

• Petrol price to rise by Rs 10 a litre?