Holding elections every month is the best way to put a check on hikes in fuel prices, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, reported PTI.
Sule made the sarcastic statement while speaking in the Lok Sabha on the hardships faced by women due to rising prices of cooking gas.
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.
On Wednesday, Sule pointed out that fuel prices were hiked soon after the Bharatiya Janata won Assembly elections in four of the five states that went to polls recently.
“Only elections can keep prices of fuel under control,” Sule said. “While polls will keep the ruling party busy, it will ensure prices of fuel items remain under control.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned briefly as the Opposition leaders protested against the fuel price hikes.
Opposition MPs from the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Left parties and the Trinamool Congress entered the Well of the House and shouted slogans against the price rise in petroleum products.
Opposition links elections and fuel hike
On Tuesday, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in a tweet said that the Union government was “just waiting for the elections to be over” so the fuel prices could be hiked.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan also said that the prices had not been raised earlier due to elections.
“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 five states. 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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