The Left parties staged a protest against the steep hike in prices of petroleum products, near Kaleswara Rao Market in the city on Thursday.
The police physically lifted the protesting Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders, and workers of the front organisations, who virtually laid siege to the roads in the vicinity. Traffic came to a grinding halt for some time. The protesters raised slogans against the Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
CPI(M) State secretary P. Madhu said the State and Central governments were not taking steps to control the prices of petroleum products. There was a possibility that the petrol price might touch ₹130 a litre in a month.
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The BJP leaders were suggesting to change the designs of the two-wheelers, but not taking steps to control the prices. The prices of essential commodities and bus fares had increased following the rise in petrol prices. Both the State and Central governments were engaged in mudslinging against each other but not addressing the issue, he said.
CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna said petrol price was ₹60 a litre per litre when the Modi government came to power. Now it touched ₹114. The price of diesel was ₹50 per litre, and now it cost ₹104 per litre. Similarly, the prices of LPG, power tariff, property taxes, user charges on garbage collection have increased. The State and Central governments were competing with each other in implementing anti-people policies, he said.