Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned briefly on Wednesday as the Opposition leaders created a ruckus over fuel price hike during the Question Hour in the House, reported The Indian Express.
Opposition MPs from the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Left parties and the Trinamool Congress entered the Well of the House as proceedings began and started shouting slogans against the price rise of petroleum products.
On Tuesday, fuel prices were increased by 80 paise a litre in the first hike in 137 days. Liquified petroleum gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder. The LPG rate was last revised on October 6. The fuel prices were again increased on Wednesday by 80 paise a litre each.
Now, petrol in Delhi costs Rs 97.01 per litre and diesel Rs 88.27 a litre. Mumbai has the highest fuel prices, as a litre of petrol costs Rs 111.67, while diesel rate went up to Rs 95.85.
In the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Congress and DMK MPs held banners that read “gas cylinders at Rs 1,000” and “stop the loot with the gas cylinder price hike and diesel-petrol price hike”. MPs belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party also joined the protest but remained on their seats, reported PTI.
Speaker Om Prakash Birla asked the protesting MPs to go back to their seats and raise the matter during the Zero Hour.
“This kind of pre-planned blocking of the House is not good,” he said before adjourning the House till 12 pm.
Meanwhile, Congress MPs also staged a protest against the increase in fuel prices in Parliament complex.
Parliament proceedings were also disrupted on Tuesday after Opposition members criticised the Union government over the fuel price hike.
Many Opposition leaders said that their predictions that the fuel price would be increased after the Assembly elections have been proven right.
On Tuesday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a tweet said that the Union government was “just waiting for the elections to be over”.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan also suggested that prices were not raised earlier due to elections, adding that this was how the Bharatiya Janata Party government worked.
“Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly said in his campaign that you people should be alert, the price is going to increase after the elections,’ Bachchan said. “Don’t know who brought them [the BJP] to power.”
India’s state-run oil companies did not raise fuel prices since November 4, a move even observers attributed to the Assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. Higher fuel prices could have led to protests and harmed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s chances of winning the polls.
For 18 days in March and April last year, the prices of petrol and diesel remained unchanged as four states and a Union Territory went to polls. However, after the results were announced on May 2, the prices rose steadily to hit record levels.
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