90% cylinders given under Ujjwala scheme in disuse: Priyanka Gandhi

Priyanka Gandhi attacked the government over the issue of high prices of cooking gas and said govt give subsidy to the poor and reduce inflation

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday attacked the Modi government over the issue of high prices of cooking gas and said if the government is honest about its Ujjwala scheme it should give subsidy to the poor and reduce inflation.

Her attack on the government came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Ujjwala 2.0 -- the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) -- by virtually presenting free LPG connections to some beneficiaries in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are scheduled early next year.

"Ninety per cent of the cylinders given under Ujjwala are lying in disuse and women are forced to cook using firewood because the BJP government has doubled the rates of a cylinder in the last seven years and reduced subsidy to a negligible amount," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

"If the government is honest about Ujjwala then it should give subsidy to the poor and reduce inflation," the Congress general secretary said and tagged a media report on the problems being faced by the poor due to rising prices of cooking gas.

The Congress on Tuesday had said the Ujjwala scheme has proven to be a "hollow gimmick" of the government with an domestic cooking gas cylinder costing Rs 888, and demanded that its price be halved to the level it was in 2014 during the UPA rule.