BSP slams Centre for diesel price hike

BSP supremo Mayawati also apprehended that the UPA could dissolve the Lok Sabha after the Budget session as it has realised that running the government was not feasible.

"Like petrol, the government has deregulated diesel from its control and has allowed oil companies to hike prices from time to time. This is a saddening and anti-people decision which will hurt the poor, the middle income group and farmers in the coming days," she told a press conference.

She said the decision to increase the LPG cylinder cap from six to nine was not sufficient. "People should get at least 12 cylinders per annum to make the decision sensible and justified...We want the government to reconsider both its decisions," she said.

She alleged that the hike in rail fares and diesel prices shows that the Congress-led government only proved that Congress' hand (its election symbol) "was not with the poor but with the rich and capitalists."

In a word of "advice" for the Congress, Mayawati said the ruling party should introspect on issues of public interest, law and order and matters related to country's borders at its ongoing 'chintan shivir' at Jaipur.

In reply to a question, she said the government was taking major decisions before the Budget session as it wanted to avoid Parliament.

She also claimed that she had heard that the government was aware that it was becoming "weak" and running it was "no more feasible".

"There is information that this could be the last Budget session of the government. They may announce some incentives for the common man and later it is possible that they may dissolve the Lok Sabha," she said.

"We are giving them (UPA) a full chance to do wonders now. We will expose them during the Lok Sabha elections," she said.