India's ruling coalition Wednesday failed to mollify its leftist allies on fuel price hikes and interest rates, and a leftist leader immediately warned of stepped up anti-government protests.

Left leaders said their meeting with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence did not end on a positive note.

The UPA-Left coordination meeting was held ahead of the parliament session beginning Dec 1 to discuss a variety of issues on which the two sides have held differing, even contrasting, opinions.

"The Left is not at all happy with the approach of the government on the issues we raised. So our agitation against the government will be intensified," a leftist leader told IANS.

The Left parties, which provide key backing to the Congress-led government, have been protesting against hikes in the prices of diesel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and asking for a complete rollback.

On Wednesday, the government politely refused to give them any such assurance.

"They were rather adamant and maintained that there was no other way out. The government was not ready to even consider cutting customs and excise duties (on crude) though they had earlier promised to do so," a Left leader fumed.

But the communists were given a positive response on their demand to hike the interest rates of government employees' Provident Fund.

"The government may reinstate the interest rate to 9.5 percent," indicated the leader.

The leftists have also told the government that they remain firmly opposed to any changes in patent laws without a comprehensive discussion. The Left will be giving a detailed note on the subject to the government.

The leftists are also adamantly opposed to even partial privatization of state-run electricity boards, saying they would prove to be dangerous to the national interests.

Apart from Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan and Revolutionary Socialist Party leader Abani Roy were among those who attended Wednesday's meeting.

--Indo-Asian News Service