Mayawati slams Centre over LPG price hike

BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday attacked the Centre over a steep hike in the price of LPG or cooking gas cylinder, terming it as a "cruel decision" against the poor. Reacting to the hike of Rs 144.5 per LPG cylinder due to spurt in benchmark global rates of the fuel, she said the move will hit crores of poor and hard-working people who are already facing "severe inflation".

"It would have been better had the Centre worked as a welfare state as embodied in the Constitution," she tweeted after the price notification of state-owned oil firms.

LPG price was increased to Rs 858.50 per 14.2 kg cylinder from Rs 714 previously, making it the steepest hike in rates since January 2014 when prices had gone up by Rs 220 per cylinder to Rs 1,241.