KOLKATA, March 27: Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said there is a strong possibility that the BJP-led central government will increase the prices of cooking gas and transport fuel after the assembly elections are over on April 29.
Addressing an election campaign for the TMC candidate in Binpur assembly constituency in Jhargram district, Birbaha Hansda, Banerjee also accused the Narendra Modi government of not taking the necessary steps to address the aggravating fuel crisis in West Bengal.
The TMC general secretary dared Modi and his ministers to make a promise at their election meetings that there would be no hike in the prices of LPG, petrol, and diesel over the next five years.
“Rest assured, they (BJP) will not make any such pledge. Instead, once the election phase is over, take my words that on April 30, there is a strong possibility they will make domestic LPG price cost Rs 2,000 and petrol-diesel Rs 200 per litre,” the Diamond Harbour MP said.
Banerjee, the de facto number two in the TMC, said that in 12 years of its tenure since 2014, the BJP hiked LPG price from Rs 400 per cylinder to Rs 1,000.
“The BJP is not concerned about the plight of the common man. The Modi government only knows how to fool the people with false promises,” he claimed.
Charging the Modi government with taking anti-people steps which caused undue harassment to lakhs of citizens, he said, “The BJP forced people to stand for hours in queues before LPG agencies, before banks during demonetisation and in SIR camps.” Alleging that the BJP government has been withholding Rs 1 lakh crore for West Bengal for political vendetta, he asserted that despite that, the TMC administration managed to run the housing, piped drinking water, and 100-day work projects with its own resources.
“Once we return to power, the target to supply piped drinking water for every household will be met. An old-age pension will be given to every elderly citizen in six months. Unlike the BJP, we never fail to deliver,” he said.
TACIT UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN EC AND GOVT, ALLEGES TMC
The Trinamool Congress on Friday questioned why no action has been taken over the opposition’s notice seeking a motion to remove Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that the “inaction” shows a “tacit understanding” between the government and the Election Commission.
In their notice, the opposition MPs, 130 in the Lok Sabha and 63 in the Rajya Sabha, have accused CEC Kumar of “acting under the thumb of the executive”, besides blaming him for “mass disenfranchisement” through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and raising questions on his appointment.
The notice was submitted in both Houses on March 12, but there has been no response from the secretariats so far.
“There has been no movement on the notice submitted by the opposition parties against the CEC, making a mockery of Parliamentary democracy. You cannot sit on the notice and ignore it indefinitely,” a senior Trinamool leader said. (PTI)
