BRS launches Statewide protest against LPG price hike

The Union government hiked the price of domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 and commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 350 with effect from Wednesday.

Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Thursday launched protests over the hike in prices of commercial LPG cylinders and domestic LPG cylinders across the State. They demanded that the Centre withdraw the hike and supply subsidised LPG cylinders for domestic consumers.

The Union government hiked the price of domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 and commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 350 with effect from Wednesday. Following a call by BRS working president KT Rama Rao, the party cadre participated in the protests in large numbers and vowed to obstruct the BJP leaders and question them over the steep hike in cooking gas prices.

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Ministers T Harish Rao, Mohd Mahmood Ali, Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Gangula Kamalakar, legislators and the party cadre participated in the demonstrations organised in Hyderabad, Ghatkesar, Karimnagar, Warangal, Mahbubnagar and other parts of the State. The BRS activists especially women took to the streets and carried empty cylinders to stage protests under scorching temperatures since 10 am. They organised road blockades in some places and raised slogans “BJP Hatao – Desh Bachao”.

Finance Minister Harish Rao said while the UPA government spent Rs 2.14 lakh crore towards LPG gas subsidy, the BJP government had allocated only Rs 37,209 crore in 2019. He said this has been reduced further to a mere Rs 180 crore in 2023. He reminded that the BJP leaders like Union Minister Smriti Irani staged protests when the gas price was increased to Rs 400 during the UPA regime. However, they remained silent even after their BJP government hiked it to Rs 1,155. He feared that the BJP would continue its practice of hiking cooking gas prices after every election and there could be another hike after Karnataka elections in May.