Protests continued for the third consecutive day against the hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas, with the activists of the opposition parties staging dharnas and cooking on roads with firewood at different places in the city on Monday.
The leaders and activists of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party organised the protest at Lenin Centre, while the Left parties jointly organised the protest at sub-collector's office. All of them were unanimous in demanding that the Centre roll back the hike immediately before it could have any impact on the prices of essential commodities and goods. The TDP leaders burnt an effigy of the UPA government while women cadres cooked dishes by using firewood.
TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and urban president Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan came down heavily on the Centre for hiking the fuel prices without considering the woes of common people who were already reeling under high and sky-rocketing prices of all commodities. TDP former MP Gadde Rammohan, former urban president Boppana Raghavendra Rao and others were present.
The CPI and the CPI (M) staged the dharna in front of the sub-collector's office by raising slogans against the UPA government. Their leaders demanded that the government roll back the hiked prices and also increase the allocations for welfare schemes.
“The rich won't be affected by any hike. The government should think about the common man and come out with relief measures” said K. Subba Raju, city secretary of the CPI.
CPI (M) leader Ch. Babu Rao hit out at the “corrupt” practices of the Congress government and demanded stringent measures to curb corruption. “The woes of common man are never taken cognizance of by this government. It is totally showing inefficiency every where,” he alleged.
