In response to the party’s call for nation wide protests against the rising fuel prices, the Congress leaders and workers in Telangana participated in protests in mandal headquarters and municipalities across the State on Saturday.
Leading the protest at Shamshabad municipal office near the airport, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has no concern for the common man even as the fuel prices are soaring, and it is incapable of running the government, he said.
Along with former MP Konda Vishweshwer Reddy, DCC president, Challa Narsimha Reddy and official spokesperson Rachamalla Siddeshwar, Mr. Reddy submitted a memorandum to the tahsildar to be forwarded to the President.
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TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar held a dharna at Kothapalli mandal quarters village in Karimnagar district along with the party workers. He said the BJP is raking up nationalism to divert people’s attention from its failures. In Gajwel constituency, represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, DCC president Narsimha Reddy led the protest.
Speaking to reporters later, Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the BJP government earned ₹18 lakh crore by hiking fuel prices ever since it came to power, and shameful this is happening when people are suffering under COVID-19 pandemic, and have little money to spend due to loss of work and employment.
He said despite huge prices of crude oil in the international market when the UPA was in power, petrol prices were under ₹40. In 2004, petrol was priced at ₹30 per litre and diesel at ₹25 per litre when the barrel cost of crude oil was $40.
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Crude oil price in the international market now is also at US$ 40 but petrol and diesel are priced at ₹80 per litre.
“The BJP government is breaking the back of all the classes and rakes up various other issues instead of answering questions on the pressing issues of people, he said.