The Congress party’s Pune unit on Tuesday staged a protest over the increase in domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices by ₹50 per cylinder.
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Arvind Shinde, Pune City President of Congress, said, “Every year, gas and petrol prices are skyrocketing. Instead of salary increments, the prices of essential commodities are increasing. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is not thinking about the common people.”
Congress leader Abhay Chhajed stated that the government should focus on the basic requirements of middle-class families. “Common people don’t understand GDP and other irrelevant things. Instead of spending crores of rupees on celebrities for advertisements, the government should provide benefits to middle-class families,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Centre’s decision to hike LPG prices has faced criticism from all opposition parties.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said the Narendra Modi-led government caters only to the rich and not the poor. “Price rise is at its peak. This government is only for the rich, not the poor. They won’t talk about real issues. Inflation will further increase under their rule,” Yadav said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin slammed the BJP-led Centre as “sadist” over the hike in domestic cooking gas prices and demanded that the Union government roll back the increase immediately, without waiting for elections. He cited a Tamil saying, the gist of which is, “Even if someone does not help, they should not cause harm,” and said this aptly describes the “sadist BJP” government at the Centre.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attacked the BJP, alleging that its idea of ‘Vikas’ is to extract every last penny from the common people. “The idea of ‘Vikas’ for the BJP government at the Centre seems to be squeezing every last penny from the pockets of ordinary Indians. From essential medicines to petrol, diesel, and cooking gas, every necessity is slowly becoming a luxury,” Banerjee posted on X.
“While families struggle with shrinking savings and mounting debt, this regime continues its assault on household budgets. BJP isn’t running a government at the Centre—it’s taking money from people’s pockets,” she added.
