India, May 12 -- Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for austerity measures amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the situation.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, however, criticised the PM and asked: 'why should people bear the burden for the mistakes of the government'.

"When crude prices were around $60 to $65 per barrel, you were still selling petrol and diesel to us at inflated prices," Thackeray said.

On Sunday, PM Modi called for a series of austerity measures, urging citizens to cut petrol and diesel consumption, adopt work from home options, postpone foreign travel and temporarily pause gold pur...