Centre has slashed the price of LPG cylinder only with an eye on elections, says CPI(M)

The Communist Party of India (M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao
| Photo Credit: KVS Giri

Activists of the CPI(M) staged a protest against the spiralling prices of essential commodities, increase in power tariffs, and rise in unemployment, here on Wednesday.

Addressing a gathering, CPI(M) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao said that the Central government should roll back the price of an LPG cylinder to ₹400 if it were sincere.

The Central government slashed the price of LPG cylinder by ₹200 as the Assembly elections in five States were fast approaching, and the Lok Sabha elections were due next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was showing false love and affection towards women with an eye on their votes, he alleged.

The government had done away with the subsidies on LPG cylinders, and hiked the price by ₹800, he said. “Now, a mere ₹200 has been slashed. The government should reduce the price to ₹400 and also implement the subsidy,” he said.

The BJP, in the run-up to the elections in 2014, had promised that the prices would be controlled within 100 days of coming to power.

The BJP and Mr. Modi betrayed the people, Mr. Srinivasa Rao said. “Except the corporate sector, none others benefited from the the policies of the Central government,” he alleged.

The YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh too was working for benefiting the corporate sector, he alleged.

CPI(M) State Secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao spoke.