Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi on Thursday staged a protest against the continuing hikes in fuel prices at Vijay Chowk in Delhi and sought their rollback.
Congress MPs from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha carrying placards raised slogans against the government and sat on a dharna against the rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.
Among those present were leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The Congress is also launching a weeklong countrywide protest against inflation and rise in fuel prices.
Petrol and diesel prices were on Thursday hiked by 80 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last 10 days to Rs 6.40 per litre.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted “Every day is a burglary on the pocket… How long will this arbitrariness last?” He accused the Narendra Modi government of using an “election ceasefire” for 137 days by not revising fuel prices in the build-up to assembly polls in five states. Surjewala asked Prime Minister Modi “till when will this 'daily dose' of inflation last”.
Speaking to ANI at the protest site, Rahul Gandhi said “In the last 10 days, petrol and diesel prices have been increased nine times. We demand that the rising prices should be brought under control. Congress party is holding nationwide protests on this issue today.”
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged the Modi government “cannot understand the difficulties being faced by the public because of rising fuel prices”.
(With PTI inputs)
