Cong holds pressers in 22 cities, slams Centre over rising prices

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday stepped up its attack on the BJP-led Centre over rising prices and accused the government of diverting attention from real issues of the people. Congress leaders held press conferences in 22 cities across the country and gave a "Dilli Chalo" call for its 'Mehangai Par Halla Bol rally' in New Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on September 4. The rally will be addressed by senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said the Centre has been "misusing the CBI and ED" to "silence the Opposition" but the party will continue to raise its voice against the rising inflation and imposition of GST on essential food items.

"The Centre doesn't care about the common man because they only focus on misusing the ED and CBI. They can arrest any leader, they can harass anyone using CBI and ED, but we will continue to raise our voice, he said.

"Fuel prices skyrocketed after the BJP government came to power. Not just fuel, but even the prices of essential food items are sky high. This is Vikas for the BJP," he alleged.

Speaking about GST on essential items, Vallabh said, This is the first government that imposed taxes on wheat flour. Petrol and diesel became unaffordable for the common man.

Addressing a presser in Mumbai, Congress' media department head Pawan Khera slammed the Narendra Modi-led Centre over inflation, and claimed the ruling BJP was trying to divert the attention from real issues.

He said that during the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the price of crude oil was USD 106 per barrel, still the price of petrol was Rs 71 per litre and that of diesel was Rs 55. Since 2014, the BJP-led Centre has been constantly increasing the excise duty on fuel, he said.

"But every week there is a controversy to deflect the attention from real issues. They are dividing society in the name of religion, language, the attire people wear. Everyday there is a new controversy," Khera said.

Be it demonetisation or rolling of the Goods and Service Tax regime, everything was done hurriedly, he said.

Addressing reporters in Ahmedabad, Congress leader Yashomati Thakur also slammed the BJP government at the Centre for inflation and unemployment and said her party would continue to raise its voice for the country's distressed citizens. Thakur, a former minister in Maharashtra's previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government, also alleged the Centre was granting massive amounts of money to industrialist friends even as the common citizen was finding it difficult to make ends meet.

"We (Congress) are not scared of the central government. You are going towards dictatorship, and you believe that we can be silenced by threats. However, we are from the Congress, we can get our heads chopped off but will never bow," Thakur asserted.

The Congress will continue to raise the truth before the public who feel the heat of inflation and unemployment, she said.

The press conferences were held in 22 cities including Ajoy Kumar addressing the media in Kolkata, Jitu Patwari in Jaipur, Aradhna Misra in

Bhopal, Shobha Oza in Chandigarh, Ragini Nayak in Raipur, Shama Mohammed in Vishakhapatnam and Akhilesh Singh in Patna.