The finance minister Yashwant Sinha made it clear that the prices of diesel would not be brought down and that eventually, they would be hiked again. The Left organisations have strongly protested this and said that they would launch a massive stir on the upward movement of prices beginning with a daylong agitation in West Bengal on October 21. Sinha has said that there was absolutely no question of any rethink on the prices of diesel and that if need be, he would recommend another hike later. His prescription is simple; in order to meet the fiscal deficit, the government would have to resort to difficult and tough measures and that price hikes could not be avoided.

Sinha has also said that new taxes were likely in the current fiscal and that disinvestment to the tune of Rs 10,000 crores was likely. He added that the huge costs incurred in the war with Pakistan had imposed a major burden on the state and that there was no way out but to hike prices to avoid a major internal debt trap. He said that elections has forced disinvestment out of the priorities but that now that the process was over, his government would proceed with it as the need arose.