Rahul targets govt over LPG price hike
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the government over the rising price of domestic cooking gas, diesel and petrol, and alleged that an amount of `23 lakh crore has been earned by increasing prices of these commodities in the last seven years.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the central government over the hike in prices of domestic cooking gas petrol and diesel. He said there is a new concept of GDP where “rising GDP means a rise in prices of gas, diesel and petrol”. He added that the centre won’t be able to pull the nation out of the ‘economic crisis’ as there are structural problems with how it is handling the ‘economy’. He said, “The problem is not cyclical, it is structural. The economic crisis that we faced in 1991 has resurfaced. The solutions that we brought worked till 2012 and I believe that without a new approach we will not be able to come out of this crisis. We need a new approach. Our plan for the economy, which worked from 1991 to 2012, stopped working after that.”
Addressing a press conference Mr. Rahul Gandhi hit out at the National Monetisation Pipeline and said that farmers, labourers and the unemployed were being demonetised. He said, “Farmers, labourers, unemployed youth, middle class and medium and small enterprises are being demonetised. Only 4-5 friends of PM Modi are being monetised.” He further added that the government was selling off ‘India’s assets’ to the private sector.
He also claimed that when the Congress-led UPA government left power in 2014, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) was priced at `410 per cylinder. He also added, “Today, it costs `885 per cylinder – a rise of 116 per cent. Petrol was `71.5 per litre in 2014, today it’s `101 per litre – a rise of 42 per cent. Diesel was priced at `57 per litre in 2014, it’s `88 per litre today.” Mr Gandhi further alleged that the government has earned `23 lakh crore from increasing prices of gas, diesel and petrol in the last seven years and said the people of the country should ask where is this money going.