The Congress on Saturday slammed the government over the hike in price of domestic LPG cylinder with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying millions of Indian households are waging a difficult battle against "extreme inflation", unemployment and "poor governance".
The Opposition party also said the central government should roll back the hike in the price of domestic cooking gas cylinder and bring it to the same level as it was for the subsidised cylinder in 2014.
The price of domestic LPG cylinders was raised by Rs 50 on Saturday. With the latest revision, the 14.2 kg domestic cylinder will now cost Rs 999.50/cylinder from Saturday, according to reports.
Gandhi said during the Congress-led UPA government, the price of an LPG cylinder was Rs 414 and a subsidy of Rs 827 was being given on every cylinder.
"Today, the cost of a cylinder is ?999. The amount of subsidy given is 'zero'," he said.
The Narendra Modi government has removed all safety nets that the Congress had put in place to protect the common man, Gandhi alleged.
"Today, millions of Indian households are waging a difficult battle against extreme inflation, unemployment, and poor governance," the former Congress chief said in a Facebook post.
"The Congress party would have never let this happen. We have and always will support families in need," he said with the hashtags 'MehengaiMuktBharat' and 'BJPFailsIndia'.
After the news of a hike of Rs 50 in the price of domestic LPG cylinder, the Congress also claimed that the Modi government has increased the price of subsidised cooking gas by over Rs 585 in the last eight years and also ended the subsidy that was given.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted, "BJP is rich, people are helpless. The price of subsidized LPG cylinder has increased two and a half times under the BJP rule. LPG cylinder is now out of reach of the middle class and the poor." According to him, the price of a subsidised gas cylinder in Delhi in May 2014 was Rs 414, which has now become Rs 999.50, an increase of more than Rs 585.
Surjewala urged the government to "bring down the price of subsidised cooking gas to the level of 2014".
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also took a dig at the government over inflation by garlanding two gas cylinders and lighting incense sticks in front of vegetables at the party headquarters. He said this was a condolence meeting for the gas cylinder.
"Sahib (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) increased the price of a gas cylinder by Rs 50 as soon as he came back from a foreign tour. Once Modi ji had put up huge hoardings and said that surrender the subsidy. Seeing these conditions today, it seems that the cylinder itself should be surrendered," Khera said.
"Our demand is to give some relief to the country. Take back the hike and bring prices to the level of 2014 prices. The country is begging for relief," he said.
