CM Mamata Banerjee lashes out at BJP for raising LPG prices

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday criticised the Narendra Modi government’s decision to raise prices of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) every month to eliminate all subsidies, saying the BJP “only care for money”.

The Trinamul Congress supremo accused the BJP of deviating from the commitments it had made to the public and alleged that the saffron party “does not care about the people”. “The BJP makes public commitments and then deviates from them all. They only care about money,” Ms Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle this afternoon.

Ms Banerjee wrote, “How can the BJP not carry out their social obligation? Where is their commitment to society at large?” “I am really concerned about the commoner. Earlier, subsidy was withdrawn on LPG and now again. BJP does not care about the people,” she added.

The government ordered state-run oil companies to raise subsidised cooking gas (LPG) prices by Rs 4 per cylinder every month to eliminate all the subsidies by March next year, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

The government had previously asked Indian Oil (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) to raise rates of subsidised domestic LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) by Rs 2 per 14.2-kg cylinder per month (excluding VAT). Now, the quantum has been doubled so as to bring down the subsidy to nil, he said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here.