Acknowledging that the union government had its own pressures in increasing petrol and diesel prices, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose party DMK is a key UPA ally, today said it would persuade the centre to roll back the prices.

"We will debate the issue with the government and persuade them to reduce the price. We hope that at least the price of diesel, used by farmers will be reduced," Karunanidhi told reporters in Tiruchirapalli.

Asked if his party would "fight" against fuel price hike as other opposition parties were doing, he said the government had its own pressures when it decided to raise the prices.

"From the days of Anna (former Chief Minister Annadurai), we have not believed in opposing and fighting for the sake of fighting," the DMK patriarch said.

Karunanidhi had last week written to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, saying the hike would have a cascading effect, further pushing up prices of essential commodities.

He had sought the rollback of at least diesel price hike.

Notwithstanding its demand for rolling back fuel price hike, DMK has ruled out pulling out of the UPA alliance, with Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha MP, Kanimozhi saying, "There is no question of DMK withdrawing its support (to UPA) or the alliance breaking up."

Apart from DMK, another UPA constituent Trinamool Congress, has also come out strongly against the hike and demanded that it be rolled back.

Fuel price hike: AIADMK state-wide demo on March 6

PTI adds from Chennai: Demanding an immediate rollback of the fuel price hike, AIADMK today announced that it would hod a state-wide protest on March six over the issue.

Party leader Jayalalithaa said protests would also be held in states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka and Puducherry, where her party was functioning.

"At a time when the country was expecting budgetary measures to curb price rise, the Centre has increased excise and customs duties on fuels, resulting in their prices going up," she said in a statement here.

"The primary focus of the Centre and states at this point of time should have been on controlling price rise," she said.

The hike had already resulted in a 20 per cent increase in fares of autorickshaw, lorry and private vehicles, she said, adding that this would further lead to an increase in prices of essential commodities, affecting lower income groups.

Various wings of AIADMK would take part in the protest, to be headed by different leaders of the party, she said.