Members of the Youth Congress staging a demonstration in Mysuru on Thursday against the recent hike in the price of LPG cylinders.
| Photo Credit: M.A. SRIRAM

The recent hike in the price of LPG by ₹50 a cylinder under both subsidised and non-subsidised categories came under flak from the Congress, which staged a protest here on Thursday.

The protest was led by the Youth Congress workers who raised slogans against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticised for the hike .

While the Centre was amassing a huge amount of revenue by way of GST, it was also engaged in supporting and protecting the business interests of the industrialists. However, it is the commoners who are suffering under the policies of the BJP rule, said the protesters, some of whom wore Modi masks to direct their criticism against the Prime Minister.

City Youth Congress president Sayyid Abrar said the economically weaker section of the country was bearing the brunt of the price hike, and this was not only anti-poor but also anti-people and hence should be opposed.

He said even the BJP should oppose the hike, but instead they were busy with their own “Janakrosha Yatra”, which, according to Mr. Abrar, was nothing but an attempt to divert public attention.

The Congress leaders mocked the BJP in Karnataka and said the price hike came on the day the party launched its yatra, and it was not only ironic but amounted to loss of face for the BJP in the State.

Akshata Ravikumar, a senior functionary of the party, said the BJP had no moral right to hold Janakrosha Yatra and claimed that there had been a frequent hike in the price of essential commodities ever since the Modi government came to power at the Centre.

The Congress leaders also referred to the disparity in tax devolution and said the BJP had discriminated against Karnataka. On the hike in LPG cylinder price, the workers expressed surprise that it comes at a time when the oil prices were declining in the international market.

“But for the relentless hike in prices of essential commodities, the BJP has not done anything positive to uplift the lives of the commoners,” according to the Congress leaders, who claimed that the people would teach the BJP a lesson in the coming ahead.