Increase in diesel price and cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders came in for sharp criticism from the Opposition - Telugu Desam Party, YSR Congress Party, Communist parties in Vijayawada on Thursday.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary R. Raghu said the Congress-led UPA government had no concern for the commoner. The Union government had hiked the petrol prices umpteen times. Now, it increased the prices of diesel. The prices of essential commodities would skyrocket with hike in diesel price. The middle class were also not spared by putting a cap on the subsidised LPG cylinders, he said, adding, the CPI(M) would launch an agitation if the prices were not rolled back.
Mylavaram MLA and TDP district president Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said the hike in diesel price would push up the prices of essential commodities. It was unfortunate that the government put a cap on the cylinders. From the seventh cylinder, the consumer would have to shell out Rs. 750 per cylinder. The TDP would organise a dharna at Gollapudi on Friday, and across the district, he said.
The hike in diesel price were dubbed as ‘unavoidable’ by the Congress and condemned as a ‘huge burden’ by the Y.S.R. Congress.
Krishna District Congress Committee president Naraharisetti Narasimha Rao said the increase in diesel price was unavoidable. This was obvious because the Central government did not increase the petrol price. The Centre had to increase the price because of the fluctuations of crude in the international market and not to burden the common man as it was being projected by the Opposition.
The YSR Congress district convenor P. Gowtham Reddy condemned the hike in diesel price. He said YSR Congress activists would stage a dharna demanding roll back of the hike.
He demanded that a corpus fund of Rs.10,000 crore to buffer the price fluctuations of crude petroleum in the international market.
