Registering a strong protest against a further increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders , a Congress spokesperson on Thursday addressed a press conference by sitting on an empty cooking gas cylinder and accused the Narendra Modi government of being “anti-people”.
Also read:LPG price increase shocks consumers
The Congress’s attack followed a fresh ₹25 hike on LPG cylinders across all categories, including beneficiaries of schemes like Ujjwala.
A day after the cricket stadium at Motera in Gujarat was named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra used cricketing analogy to take a dig at the government.
She slammed the government over increasing LPG prices by over ₹200 in the last three months to say “petrol and diesel prices moving towards hitting a century”.
“The pitch of the Modi government, which is batting for billionaire friends on both ends of the economy, is full of high prices and inflation for the common people,” she said.
Subsequently, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and party secretary-communication Vineet Punia sat on empty cylinders while addressing the media at the party headquarters.
Also read:Congress stages protest in Punjab against fuel, cooking gas price hike
“This will be the only use left for these cylinders. Soon, there won’t be any option to refill them as the prices have gone out of reach for middle class families,” Ms. Shrinate said.
“Mr. Modi likes to get stadiums named after him but the only century he has scored is perhaps in the price of petrol shooting above ₹100 a litre. Why are you [the government] anti-people? Why are you raising prices? Why are you not rolling back the excise duty hikes. This government did not just increase prices, they lie through their teeth,” she alleged.
“The government also lied about the subsidy on LPG cylinders. The reality is that this government has made the market and controlled prices in the same. It is the difference between the market and controlled prices, which is the subsidy. So, if you are paying ₹794 as market price and the controlled price is ₹500, you would have got [₹]294 as subsidy,” Ms. Shrinate said, adding that there was hardly any subsidy in LPG cylinders as the market price and controlled prices were almost the same.
