Shashi Tharoor calls BJP's move over fuel price hike ‘unjustified’

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor slammed BJP government over hike in fuel prices and called it ‘unjustified.' He said “the government has interfered with market pricing to avoid hurting the voters before elections and soon after that they allow prices to go up again.” 

“This is unjustified because the largest portion of what we pay at petrol pumps & gas cylinders is in terms of taxes,” he said. 

He further added, “If the government really wanted to alleviate the pain of the common man of India they should have reduced the taxes instead of increasing the price.” 

The government has increased the petrol and diesel prices by ₹0.80, since November 2. However, it was expected that the fuel prices would rise in the country due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Not only this but there is also a sudden spike in cooking gas prices, which has increased by ₹50 per cylinder.

Earlier, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan also hit out at BJP  over the sudden hike of petrol and diesel prices, she said ‘Don't know who brought them (BJP) to power.'

Linking the hike to the recent five states assembly elections she said “This is how the government does, Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly said in his campaign that you people should be alert, the price is going to increase after the elections."