The Opposition Congress and JD(S), on Sunday, mounted an attack on the state and central governments over the increase in the prices of fuel and essential commodities.
Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy accused the BJP government of diverting people’s attention towards sensitive issues to hide its failures in curbing rising prices.
In a joint news conference, leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar slammed the saffron party for ‘looting people’ by raising taxes.
In a series of tweets, Kumaraswamy highlighted the repeated surge in fuel prices over the past 13 days, during which there was a total increase of Rs 8 per litre of petrol and diesel.
“BJP is enriching the wealthy at the expense of the poor. It is the party which is destroying the poor by increasing prices,” Kumaraswamy said.
BJP is weary that its prospects will be hurt due to the anger among the people against price rise.
“Due to this fear, they are diverting the attention of innocent people towards sensitive issues,” he said, accusing the BJP of provoking violence to secure its goal of winning 150 seats in the next Assembly elections.
Shivakumar said that the state Congress would continue its protests against inflation in the coming days.
Be it petrol, diesel or LPG, the BJP government has continued to increase prices and is “looting the people”.
The government, he said, was raising prices in an unscientific manner.
“Policies adopted by the UPA government to curb inflation should be implemented now,” he said.
In the last eight years, BJP has collected Rs 26 lakh crore from excise tax levied on fuel.
Despite the hardships faced by people due to Covid, the government has not stopped extorting people, Shivakumar said.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the Narendra Modi government was manipulating oil companies.
“Oil companies had last raised fuel rates in November 2021 and it was not increased till end of March 2022. This was mainly controlled with an eye on elections. How can we then say govt does not have control over oil companies in deciding prices?” he said.
He also accused the BJP of misleading people to divert attention from issues such as inflation, unemployment and problems suffered by farmers.
“BJP’s main weapon to divert attention is raking up communally sensitive issues and instilling venomous thoughts in people,” he said.
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