Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a dig at the BJP over the LPG cylinder price hike by tweeting a throwback picture of the BJP leaders protesting against the hike during the Congress-led UPA era.
“I agree with these members of the BJP as they protest the astronomical ₹150 price hike in LPG cylinders,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted along with the picture of the leaders that included Smriti Irani in the frame.
The former Congress chief used the hashtag #RollBackHike as the women of his party protested across the country over the issue.
In Delhi, a delegation of women leaders including former Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev and former MLA Alka Lamba submitted a memorandum in the Petoleum Ministery.
When the delegation was stopped at the gate of the Shastri Bhavan by the security personnel, they resorted to a flash strike.
“The price has been hiked about six times since August 2019. It is extremely insensitive on the part of the government. It comes as a surprise that the BJP leaders who held shrill press meets when they were in the Opposition to protest the price of the LPG gas during the UPA government are today silent. It is also shocking that when the entire country is reeling under the shock of the economic crises and unemployment, a basic commodity like LPG has been made so expensive,” a statement from the All India Mahila Congress said.
“The Prime Minister takes great pride in the fact that crores of people have given up their gas subsidy for the poor. Now affording the non-subsidised gas has become extremely difficult for the citizens. It is more shocking that within 24 hours of the Delhi election results, the BJP government has increased the price. Is this revenge for their crushing defeat?” it asked.
On Wednesday, the government had announced a steep hike of ₹144.5 for every LPG cylinder due to the spurt in the benchmark global rates of the fuel.
