West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lashed out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government after the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cooking gas cylinders across all categories including subsidised gas were hiked by Rs 25 per cylinder -- the third straight increase in rates in less than two months.
Taking to Twitter, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for its "anti-people" policies.
"It pains me deeply to see how apathetic the @BJP4India government is and how anti-people their policies are! We have seen unprecedented hikes in petrol, diesel, cooking gas and cooking oil. This has taken a heavy toll on our people and their families," Banerjee tweeted. "This is absolutely unacceptable and unpardonable," she added.
The West Bengal CM further requested PM Modi to "act upon the concerns of our people" and withdraw the hike immediately.
Meanwhile, BJP ally Janata Dal (United) has also demanded that the government roll back the hike in cooking gas cylinder prices and step in to check the rising fuel prices as these have affected common households.
JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi said the repeated hike in the LPG price has affected people's budget adversely.
"The government should roll back the hike," he said.
He also spoke against leaving petrol and diesel prices to market mechanism, and said the government must step in to curb their cost for people's benefit.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also slammed the government over the rising price of domestic cooking gas, diesel and petrol, and alleged that an amount of Rs 23 lakh crore has been earned by increasing prices of these commodities in the last seven years.
He also alleged that while sections such as farmers, salaried class and labourers were being demonetised, a few industrialist friends of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were being monetised.
(With input from agencies)
