Delhi Cong protests outside Shastri Bhawan, demands rollback of LPG price hike

The Delhi Congress on Thursday held a protest outside Shastri Bhawan here demanding a rollback of the hike in non-subsidised LPG prices.

Narendra Singh, a protester, was seen crooning "Mehngai dayain khaye jaat hai", a popular Bollywood song about inflation, at the protest.

Delhi Congress workers, led by city party president Subhash Chopra, carried empty gas cylinders and raised the slogan of "Awaaz do, hum ek hai", calling for unity, that had rent the air during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Addressing the protesters, Chopra said gas cylinder prices have increased from Rs 574 in September last year to Rs 714.

He asked why the Aam Aadmi Party was "silent" on the price hike.

Congress's Delhi in-charge PC Chacko claimed the AAP was the "B" team of the BJP and was quietly "endorsing" its decisions.

Chopra asked the Kejriwal government to announce a subsidy of Rs 140 per cooking gas cylinder to give relief to the people reeling under inflation.

The Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government gave subsidy to stabilize the gas prices when the central government raised the prices of cooking gas, he recalled.

On Wednesday, oil companies raised the price of non-subsidised LPG to Rs 714 per 14.2-kg cylinder from Rs 695.

This was the fifth straight monthly increase in cooking gas prices since September 2019. In all, non-subsidised cooking gas prices have gone up by Rs 139.50 per cylinder in the last five months.

Non-subsidised LPG is the gas that consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg at sub-market or subsidised rates of Rs 495.86.