Prayagraj,

02 May (HS): The City Congress Committee members strongly criticized the steep

hike in the prices of commercial and 5-kg LPG cylinders by government oil

companies, allegedly citing the ongoing US-Iran conflict as the reason for the increase.

The criticism was voiced during a meeting held on Saturday afternoon at the

party office in Chowk under the chairmanship of City Congress Committee

President Fuzail Hashmi. During the meeting, Congress leaders described the

massive increase in cylinder prices as a “May Day gift” by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to the working class. They alleged that the government had

deliberately controlled inflation until the completion of elections in five

states for electoral gains.

They

stated that the price of commercial LPG cylinders has increased by Rs. 993,

taking the price to Rs. 3,099. They claimed that within the last three months

alone, the price has risen by Rs. 1,303. Earlier hikes included Rs. 114.50 on

March 1 and Rs. 195.50 on April 1. Similarly, the price of the 5-kg small

cylinder has reportedly been increased by Rs. 261, making its current price Rs.

810.50. The leaders further alleged that due to the inflation brought in

“silently” by the Modi government, the prices of tea, samosas, and dinner items

have gone up by nearly 20 percent, while airfares have increased by up to 100

percent.

Congress

men accused the central government’s wrong economic policies of being responsible

for the price rise and said that war was merely being used as an excuse. They

demanded that the Prime Minister and the Union Petroleum Minister immediately

roll back the steep increase in LPG cylinder prices. Former UP Congress

spokesperson Kishore Varshney, Coordinator Harikesh Tripathi, Mukund Tiwari,

Parvez Siddiqui, Anoop Tripathi, Zia Ubaid, Dr. A.D. Dubey, Afroz Ahmad, Nayan

Kushwaha, spokesperson Shahnawaz Qureshi, Rajkumar Shukla, Sachin Kushwaha,

Mohammad Haseen, Rakesh Srivastava, Sushmita Yadav, Sartaz Mohammad, Pratima

Tripathi, Mohammad Javed, Rizwana Begum, Kameshwar Sonkar, Nasreen Bano, Keshav

Pasi and others.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi