Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi sought the intervention of the central government and Prime Minister for an urgent roll back of the hike in central excise duty on diesel. “Any increase in the price of diesel will have a cascading effect on food prices as well as prices of other essential commodities,” said the chief minister in his letters to the prime minister, finance minister and the congress leader. The Union budget proposed to restore the basic duty of 5 perdent on crude petroleum , 7.5 percent on diesel and petrol and 10 percent on other refined products. The budget also proposes to hike the central excise duty by Re 1 per litre.