If the Left parties could successfully block the Indo-US nuclear deal by threatening in all seriousness to withdraw their outside support to the UPA goverment, why can't they adopt the same tactic to force the Centre to rollback the steep hike in the prices of petroleum products, including LPG? Is the worsening plight of the majority of the country's people, already reeling under the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and whose miseries are now compounded by the rise in petroleum prices not as serious an issue for the Left as the nuke deal?