The Congress party staged protests across the State against steep increase in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas on Monday, in response to a call given by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) with the newly-appointed Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) A. Revanth Reddy leading it at Nirmal.
Bike rallies, symbolic rides on bullock carts and processions marked the protests held at all district headquarters in the State. Senior leaders of the party held the protests in different districts.
At Nirmal, Mr. Revanth Reddy along with former legislator A. Maheshwar Reddy and DCC president Ramarao Patel participated in a two-hour protest procession from the outskirts of the town. Speaking at the protest meet, the TPCC president said the Centre had increased petrol and diesel prices 24 times this year itself.
Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao were exploiting people with taxes that had overtaken the actual cost of petrol and diesel by about over 150%. Despite claiming the country and State as rich repeatedly, the two governments had been levying exorbitant taxes to take the prices of petrol and diesel to an unprecedented high, he said.
“When poor neighbouring countries such as Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and others could give petrol and diesel at much lesser cost, why is it not possible in India”, he sought to know. The rate of petrol in the State was about ₹60 per litre when BJP came into power in 2014 and it had reached over ₹105 per litre now, he said.
He pointed out that it was due to the high State (₹32) and Central taxes (₹33) per litre the actual cost of petrol (₹40) had crossed ₹105. Similarly, on diesel, the State and Central governments are levying ₹28 and ₹30 per litre, respectively on the actual cost of diesel (₹30). The rate of domestic cooking gas cylinder has gone up by over 100% as it was available at ₹410 against ₹861 now.
Mr. Revanth Reddy alleged that the Central government had fleeced ₹36 lakh crore from people in the name of taxes on petrol and diesel during the last seven years, while the State government exploited ₹12 lakh crore. He said there was no need to show any sympathy for KCR and TRS now as promises like double-bedroom houses, 3 acres land to dalits, a government job to every family, hike in tribal and minorities reservation and others remain writings on water.