Rahul Gandhi mocks BJP for LPG price hike; throws-back to Smriti Irani's cylinder protest

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a jibe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the hike in the non-subsidised LPG rates. Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader posted an old picture of the BJP leaders who were protesting against the gas price hike during the Congress regime and added a sarcastic caption to it.  

Meanwhile, BJP Minister Smriti Irani's old tweet against the LPG hike in 2011 resurfaced over the Internet. 

Congress stages protest

The women's wing of the Congress party held a demonstration outside the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas office in New Delhi against hike in LPG prices on Thursday. The All India Mahila Congress chief, Sushmita Dev, led the rally along with other leaders including Alka Lamba. The rally called out the rise in the prices of non-subsidised 14 kg Indane gas in metros which came into effect on Wednesday.

The protesters were chanting slogans like, "Cut gas prices" and were holding placards with mentions of LPG prices in metro cities – Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. 

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Hike in Gas Prices

The LP gas price on Wednesday was hiked by a steep Rs 144.5 per cylinder due to spurt in benchmark global rates of the fuel. However, the government has almost doubled the subsidy it provides on the fuel to keep per cylinder outgo almost unchanged. 

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The LPG price was increased to Rs 858.50 per 14.2 kg cylinder from Rs 714, according to a price notification of state-owned oil firms. This is the steepest hike in rates since January 2014 when prices had gone up by Rs 220 per cylinder to Rs 1,241. Along with it, the domestic LPG users, who are entitled to buy 12 bottles of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year, will get more subsidy.

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