Surjewala attacks Centre for LPG hike, says govt "electrocuted common man's budget"

Congress in a sharp attack on the central government has raised the issue of price hike in LPG cylinders with Congress leader and party's chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala hit out at the centre and stated that the government has "robbed the household budgets".

"Today again the Modi government has robbed the budget of the country's housewives, the women of the country, the common man of the country! Modi Ji has raised the price of the Gas cylinder by Rs 144", Surjewala tweeted.

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Surjewala said that with an average of 12 cylinder refills by each of the 25.21 crore consumers in this country, the common people will have to shell out Rs 43,562 crore annually with this hike.

"The Modi government has today electrocuted the budget of the common man. Modi government has today attacked the budget of India's women. The Modi government with one stroke of the pen has increased the price of the gas cylinder by Rs 144, taking the price of non-subsidised gas cylinder to Rs 858.50," he told reporters.

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Surjewala reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had come to power on May 16, 2014, with the promise of almost zero inflation. He added that a non-subsidised gas cylinder price was only Rs 414 then, while it is now Rs 858.50 now, an increase of over 100 percent in less than 5.5 years. 

If one uses 12 cylinders in a year, then based on the current increase of Rs 144, the additional outflow from every woman's and every person's budget will be Rs 5,334, he claimed.

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(With PTI inputs)