Congress, BJP trade blame over LPG cylinder shortage after urea row in Telangana

The ongoing LPG shortage in Telangana has sparked a fresh round of political sparring between Congress and BJP. Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy admitted to severe shortages in commercial LPG. The BJP, however, accused the Congress government of creating artificial scarcity.

Hyderabad: As people, especially households, continue to struggle to obtain LPG cylinders, the two national parties, Congress and BJP, are engaged in a blame game over the crisis.

Last year too, both parties were involved in a similar tussle and held each other responsible for the urea shortage in the State. While farmers struggled due to the scarcity of urea last year, this year households, hotels, eateries as well as restaurants are bearing the brunt of insufficient LPG supplies.

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Turning a blind eye to the people’s sufferings, both parties are sparing no opportunity to blame each other for the current crisis.

On Saturday, Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed that domestic gas supplies were near normal levels, but admitted that there was a severe shortage of commercial LPG supplies. He said commercial LPG supplies were currently meeting only about 20 percent of the demand, raising serious concerns among key commercial LPG consumers.

Hotels and restaurants across the State are facing acute difficulties, forcing many to cut down their menu options and even temporarily close outlets. The Hotels and Restaurants Association of Telangana has raised complaints about the non-availability of LPG supplies, with smaller establishments being badly affected.

However, the BJP State unit has been countering the Congress government’s accusations and dismissing them as false campaigns.

BJP State president N Ramchander Rao argued that the demand for gas cylinders had increased due to artificial scarcity created by the Congress government. Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been categorically asserting that there was no shortage of LPG supply in the country, he maintained that supply disruptions were linked to the ongoing situation in the Gulf region.

He also alleged that since the country imports crude oil and gas from other nations, the Congress governments were deliberately creating an artificial shortage. Claiming that there was no such issue in BJP-ruled States, he charged that people were facing difficulties only in Congress-ruled States.