Maharashtra minister of tourism and environment Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday took a dig at the BJP-led central government over the fuel price hike. "Assembly elections are over and now fuel prices have increased. We will have to wait till the next elections for the prices to reduce," he said while speaking to news agency ANI. In an eighth hike in nine days, the petrol and diesel prices in the country rose by another 80 paise per litre.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday took a dig at the fuel price hike and requested the Election Commission to announce the schedule of upcoming state elections immediately. The Rajya Sabha member said that such an announcement will move fuel price from “deregulation to regulation mode” and bring relief to Indians hit by soaring prices.
The petrol prices and diesel prices in Delhi rose to ₹101.01 per litre and ₹92.27 per litre respectively. In Mumbai, the petrol prices went by 84 paise costing ₹115.88, and the diesel prices went up by 85 paise per litre costing ₹100.10. In Chennai, the price of petrol is ₹106.69 (increased by 75 paise) a litre and diesel is ₹96.76 (increased by 76 paise) per litre. The petrol prices in Kolkata stands at ₹110.52 (increased by 84 paise), while the diesel prices stand at ₹95.42 per litre (increased by 80 paise).
The opposition has been hitting out at the BJP government over the fuel price hike. The Congress has also announced a three-phase campaign - 'mehngai-mukt Bharat abhiyaan' - for which they plan to organise rallies and marches across the country between March 31 and April 7.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday over the fuel price hike. Mocking PM Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat', the Congress leader called it 'Roz Subah Ki Baat'. "PM Modi's daily to-do-list includes how much should I increase the rate of petrol-diesel-gas, how to stop people's 'Kharti Pe Charcha', how to show youth empty dreams of employment, which government company should I sell today, and how to make farmers more helpless," he wrote on Twitter.
(With inputs from agencies)