‘Elections over, vasooli shuru’: Congress slams 'inflation man' Modi over petrol and diesel price hike

The Congress slammed the the Modi government over petrol and diesel price hike on Friday. The opposition party said the rise would lead to further inflation and that growth estimates will be lowered.

The official handle of the Congress took to X and termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "inflation man" and said that the government has unleashed the whip on the public yet again.

Taking to X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the Congress had been urging that benefits of declining oil prices over the years should have been passed on to Indian consumers and that domestic prices of gas, petrol, and diesel should be reduced.

However, that did not happen and consumers were "fleeced", he said.

"Now that international oil prices are climbing up because of the war in West Asia unleashed by the PM's good friends -- the US and Israel -- and assembly elections are over, the Modi Government has increased petrol and diesel prices after having hiked commercial LPG prices earlier.

"This is bound to lead to further inflation that is now projected to be close to 6% for this financial year. Growth estimates will be lowered considerably," Ramesh said.

The government on Friday announced a hike in petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 each, the first major increase in four years. This comes as state-run companies incur losses due to increase in output cost following surging global crude prices.

Petrol price was hiked to Rs 97.77 per litre from Rs 94.77 in Delhi. Diesel now costs Rs 90.67 as against Rs 87.67 per litre previously. In Bengaluru, the new price of petrol stands at Rs 106.17, while diesel has gone up to Rs 94.10.

Petrol in Mumbai now costs Rs 106.68 a litre and diesel comes for Rs 93.14 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol now costs Rs 108.74 per litre and diesel Rs 95.13, while in Chennai, prices increased to Rs 103.67 for petrol and Rs 95.25 for diesel.

The increase comes 16 days after assembly elections concluded in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Fuel prices had remained unchanged through the polling period despite a sharp rise in international oil prices triggered by the West Asia conflict.

Prices have remained frozen since April 2022 but for a one-off reduction by Rs 2 a litre each on petrol and diesel in March 2024, just before Lok Sabha elections. Rates were last hiked in April 2022.

(With PTI inputs)