Congress to protest in front of petrol pumps against rising fuel prices

Congress will hold symbolic protests in front of petrol pumps across the country on Friday against the rising fuel and cooking gas prices and demand their withdrawal. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal has said the protests will be organised by the local units of the party and Covid-19 protocols prescribed by the local, district and state administrations will be followed and that there will be no public meetings.

Congress leader KC Venugopal said in a statement on Wednesday that issues of public interest such as the problems being faced by people amid the spiralling fuel and cooking gas prices, the unprecedented economic slowdown, the rising unemployment and skyrocketing prices of all essential commodities will be highlighted. "On one hand they could not get medicines and health facilities at the right time, on the other, they have been suffering because of the failing economy and widespread unemployment,” Venugopal said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP government has increased excise duty by ₹23.87 per litre on petrol and ₹28.37 on diesel in comparison to the previous UPA regime, Venugopal said. "The wrong priorities and anti-people policies of the BJP government can also be gauged from the fact that in the last 13 months of the corona epidemic, the prices of petrol and diesel have been increased by an unprecedented ₹25.97 and ₹24.18 respectively," he alleged.

The senior Congress leader said that the prices of petrol and diesel have been increased 44 times in the last five months alone, “which is a living example of loot from the public by the BJP government at the Centre.” "Instead of sympathising with the problems of the commoners, the BJP government has decided to disregard the sufferings of the people and continue to inflict pain by raising the prices of petrol and diesel every other day," he said.

The price of petrol has crossed the ₹100-per-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Ladakh