Rahul Gandhi leads protest over fuel price hike; demands rollback
New Delhi, March 31: Congress MPs, led by Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday staged a protest at Vijay Chowk against the fuel price hike.
Senior leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Mallikarjun Kharge, Abhishek Singhvi held protests with placards having slogans 'Rollback fuel price hike'.
Also read| Increase in toll tax set to make road travel expensive from April 1
"Today, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we are holding nationwide protests against fuel & LPG price hike," said Congress leader and Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the rise in petrol and diesel prices had been unprecedented and demanded its rollback.
He said the prices of petrol and diesel had risen nine times in the last 10 days, and the common man was the worst affected. Congress MPs from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha carrying placards raised slogans against the government and sat on a dharna against the fuel price hike.
"Our demand is that the government should control prices and stop raising petrol and diesel prices," Rahul Gandhi said while noting that the poor and middle class had been the worst hit.
Also read | SC cancels mop-up round counselling for NEET PG 2021-22
"We can see that petrol and diesel prices are climbing rapidly. The government is making thousands of crores. The Congress is protesting across the country against the price rise of petrol and diesel. The government has to stop doing this. It has to ensure that prices do not rise," he said.
To take on the BJP-led Central government on the issues of inflation and fuel price hike, the Congress has decided to launch a nationwide programme 'Mehngai Mukt Bharat Abhiyan' against price rises under which it will organise rallies and marches across the country from March 31 to April 7.
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. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon local taxation. This is the ninth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month-long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.
-PTC News
