Opposition leaders on Friday questioned the Union government about the increased rates for commercial liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, noting that the price hike took place just two days after voting for the Assembly elections ended.
The rates of commercial LPG cylinders were increased by Rs 993 from Friday amid rising global energy prices triggered by the conflict in West Asia. With this, a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder is now priced at Rs 3,071.5 in Delhi and Rs 3,024 in Mumbai.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi remarked that he had predicted earlier that the “heat of inflation” would rise after the elections. “Today, commercial gas cylinders have become costlier by Rs 993,” he said on social media. “The biggest increase in a single day. This is the bill for the elections.”
Gandhi noted that the prices of commercial liquefied petroleum gas have spiked by Rs 1,380 since February, which amounts to an increase of 81% in three months.
“From tea stalls to dhabas, hotels, bakeries and sweet shops, the burden on everyone's kitchen has increased,” the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said. “And this will affect your plate too.”
Gandhi went on to add: “The first strike was on gas, the next will be on petrol and diesel.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the increase in commercial LPG cylinder prices would translate into higher food prices for common people.
“If they [the government] had to make the cylinder expensive, they should have just hiked the prices to Rs 1,000 straightaway,” he remarked. “On whom are BJP leaders bestowing a favour by reducing seven rupees from Rs 1,000?”
The Communist Party of India also said that it strongly condemned the “unprecedented hike” in commercial LPG prices, the Deccan Herald reported. It said that continuous increases in fuel prices showed that the government had failed to safeguard the country’s interests in a challenging global situation.
“Coming just a day after voting, this confirms what the CPI had warned: that LPG and other fuel prices would be increased once elections were over, because the government is focused solely on electoral gains rather than people’s livelihoods,” the party alleged, according to the newspaper. “Once the votes are cast, the burden is pushed onto the common people in an unprecedented manner. This is deeply unjust.”
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