LPG price hike: KT Rama Rao calls for protests against the Centre’s post-election decision

In a teleconference, KTR flayed the Centre for increasing the LPG prices right after the elections to state Assemblies in the north were over.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Mar 01, 2023 | 8:24 PMUpdatedMar 01, 2023 | 8:24 PM

The Centre has hiked the price of domestic LPG by ₹50 and commercial LPG by ₹350. (Creative Commons)

BRS working president and Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Wednesday, 1 March, called for a state-wide agitation against the Centre for the sharp increase in the price of the LPG on Friday.

In a teleconference with ministers, MLAs, MLCs. and party district units’ presidents, KTR flayed the Centre for increasing the LPG prices immediately after the elections to state Assemblies in the north were over.

Against the hike

He said that it has become a habit for the Centre to increase the prices of LPG after the elections. “Hiking the price of domestic LPG cylinder by ₹50 and that of the commercial one by ₹350 would place an unbearable burden on the people,” he said.

The BRS leader said that it was unfair for the BJP government to break the back of the people after they had voted in the elections. “I should assume that the increase is a gift to women ahead of International Women’s day on 8 March,” he quipped.

KTR asked the party cadres to organise protests at all constituencies, mandal headquarters, and towns.

He advised them to stage protests in a novel way to attract the attention of the people. Similar protests should be organised on International Women’s Day, he said, to drive home the point that the ineffective policies of the Centre were only making the lives of the people miserable.

‘Expose Centre’s anti-people policies’

The BRS leader said that before the advent of the Narendra Modi-led government, the price of LPG used to be ₹400, but it has now shot up to ₹1,200. Till now, the price was ₹1,160 per cylinder, he added.

The minister said that the increase in the prices of LPG and those of the essential commodities were making the people restive.

KTR asked that the protests be in such a way that the Centre would take note of the problems the people were facing. The protests should expose the Centre’s anti-people policies, he said.

Also Read: Fight against Centre’s anti-people policies in Parliament, says KCR

He said that the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana was only intended to mislead the people as the government was anyway increasing the price of the LPG.

Even the first woman who received the benefit of the scheme from the prime minister is now using firewood to cook food at home, he said, and demanded immediate rollback of the hike.