GUWAHATI: Assam BJP president, Ranjit Dass has said the state government should not be blamed for the rising prices of petrol and diesel and that such a trend was related to fluctuations of oil prices in the international market.
“The government cannot be held responsible for the rising fuel prices as the trend is related to the international market,” Dass told reporters on Tuesday.
The BJP state president also said that the development would not affect the party’s prospects in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“Performance in an election cannot be linked to rising prices of fuel and that the party’s poll prospects do not become better if the rates come down and vice versa,” he said.
The reaction comes in the wake of a protest carried out the by the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee here on Tuesday evening.
Addressing a press meet here, Assam PCC president Ripun Bora took a dig at the Centre for raising the prices of fuel immediately after the elections in Karnataka.
“BJP had said it would control oil prices as an election promise. However, it has failed to live up to that pre-election commitment,” Bora said.
As against the earlier trend of fuel prices being revised every 15 days, the rates of both petrol and diesel have been invariably on the rise every week in the past few months.
The rate on Tuesday was enhanced by 31 paisa and 28 paisa for petrol and diesel respectively, with a litre of petrol in Guwahati now costing Rs 79.03 and diesel Rs 71.07.