Amid verbal slugfest among leaders of Congress and NCP, parties which share power in

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the Centre as well as Maharashtra, state NCP leaders today met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and asked him to provide relief to the common man hit by recent fuel price hike.

"We submitted a memorandum to Chavan, drawing his attention to the large-scale public unrest due to the hike. NCP workers have protested on the streets against the hike," NCP state unit president Madhukar Pichad, who led the delegation, told PTI.

"All people feel the issue should be resolved. We told Chavan that he should make efforts to give relief to people. He assured us he will discuss the matter with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and see how to make funds available to provide relief to consumers," he added.

Leaders of the two parties are involved in a war of words over the fuel price hike issue. First, it was NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who said his party was against the fuel price rise by the Centre, as it has increased hardships of the common man.

Later, in an indirect reference to Pawar's comments, Union Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, "When one is in an alliance, one must not only share power, but also its accountability."