Kerala Congress holds hunger strike against petrol price hike

Kerala Congress on Tuesday held a hunger strike in front of Raj Bhavan in protest against the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas. Congress leader Oommen Chandy inaugurated the hunger strike which was led by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullapally Ramachandran. The Centre had hiked the prices of LPG, petrol, and diesel in the national capital on Monday.

Congress' hunger strike against fuel price hike

Ramachandran said, "The poor people have been put to misery by the Centre which has hiked the prices of petroleum products. The state government is not ready to cut taxes on petrol and diesel, putting the people in hardship. During the last UDF government, the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had cut the state tax. But Pinarayi government is not doing it. Manmohan Singh too, while leading the UPA governments had given Rs 1,25,000 by way of subsidy." Congress leader opined, "This is a token strike, and if the Centre and the state governments fail to address the issue, the Congress will intensify the strike from tomorrow onwards."

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Congress' #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike campaign

In July last year, amidst the countrywide lockdown imposed due to coronavirus pandemic, Congress led a social media campaign #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike. The party had said, "The rising prices of petrol and diesel in the epidemic has shaken every class. Let us wake up the government by raising the voice of the public against the rising prices of petrol and diesel by becoming part of the #SpeakUpAgainstFuelHike campaign."

From its official Twitter handle, Congress had tweeted, "In this emergency, the common man is craving relief; the BJP government is breaking the relief by raising the prices of petrol and diesel. The difference between the rising prices of crude oil and petrol and diesel is making it clear that the plundering of the BJP is going on in full swing.

On February 1, 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2021, introduced an agriculture infra cess on fuel due to which the price of petrol increased by Rs 2.5 per litre while diesel got costlier by Rs 4 per litre. Also, the FM had said that it will not impact the final consumers as the central government has decided to reduce the Basic Customs Duty on fuel.

(With ANI inputs)

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