Congress slams govt over LPG price hike

New Delhi: In an unusual protest against the LPG price hike, a Congress spokesperson on Thursday conducted a Press conference sitting on an empty cylinder as the party accused the Modi government of being "anti-people".

The Congress' attack on the government came after cooking gas price was hiked by Rs 25 per cylinder across all categories, including subsidised fuel and those availed by Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries.

Hitting out at the government, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that price of domestic gas cylinder has been increased by Rs 200 in the last three months and petrol and diesel prices have moved "towards hitting diesel century".

"The pitch of the Modi government, which is batting for billionaire friends on both ends of the economy, is full of high prices and inflation for the common people," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi using cricketing analogy.

Later, at the party Press conference on the LPG price hike, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and party secretary (communication) Vineet Punia sat on empty cylinders to register their protest against the government move. The mike was also kept on a gas cylinder.

On a lighter note, Shrinate also quipped that going forward this would be the use of cylinders as it was not affordable to get them refilled.

Slamming the government, she said, "Modi likes to get stadiums named after him but the only century he has scored is perhaps in the price of petrol shooting above Rs 100 a litre."

"Why are you (government) anti-people. Why are you raising prices. Why are you not rolling back the excise duty hikes? This government did not just increase prices but they lie through their teeth," she alleged.

The Congress leader further said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi blames rise in crude oil imports on the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) but the truth is that crude oil imports have gone up from 83 per cent in 'our tenure to 88 per cent in their tenure'."