Fuel price hike: Cong holds cycle rally, CPM stages protest

Condemning the rise in the price of fuel and LPG, Mangaluru South Block Congress staged a cycle rally and padayatra in Mangaluru on Wednesday, while the CPM staged a protest at Hampankatta Junction in Mangaluru.

The cycle rally was organised under the direction of KPCC president D K Shivakumar.

The participants carried out a cycle rally from the DCC office in Mallikatte to Mangaluru City Corporation building in Lalbagh via PVS Circle.

Speaking on the occasion, Congress leader and former president of DK Youth Congress Mithun Rai said the government is engaged in raising the price of fuel and LPG amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rise in the price of fuel has affected the common man. The Central government should have come to the rescue of the common man during the pandemic, he added.

“Our protest is not against ‘Modi-bhakts’ or against ‘BJP bhakts’. We are protesting and trying to become the voice of the common man who is in distress following the rise in the price of fuel and LPG, said Rai.

The BJP-led government conspired to stop the protest by Congress. The Congress workers will not heed to any tactics of the government, he said.

As the police in Moodbidri failed to accord permission for the cycle rally and padayatra by Congress, former MLA Abhayachandra Jain carried out the protest by holding a cycle rally alone.

Jain pedalled the cycle to Moodbidri taluk office and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the tahsildar, opposing the rise in the price of fuel and LPG.

CPM protest

Staging a protest, the CPM opposed the hike in the price of fuel, which in turn has led to the hike in the price of essential commodities.

The protesters also opposed the hike in the price of private bus fare in Dakshina Kannada.

They condemned the move to hike the electricity tariff in Karnataka and urged the government to waive off the electricity bill for three months and roll back the hike in the electricity tariff.