Gujarat BJP condemns Centre’s decision to hike petrol prices

Gujarat state BJP leaders on Sunday criticised the central government on Sunday for raising the price of petrol. In its steepest hike so far, the price of petrol was raised by Rs5 per litre - an over 8 percent increase - from Saturday midnight. The price of petrol was increased for nine times from Rs47.93 per litre to Rs63.37 - in as many months through nine revisions.

"The people of Gujarat will have to shell out Rs5.25 for a litre of petrol. Gujarat monthly consumes 11.50 crore litres of petrol which is approximately 138 crore litre annually. This means the burden on the state will be around 725 crore rupees annually," said minister of state for finance, Saurabh Patel.

"The expectations of the common man and the petrol price hike has exposed the failure of the UPA government," said Jaynarayan Vyas, government spokesperson

'It is an attack on the 'aam aadmi (common man)', about whom the ruling alliance speaks so often,' he said.

"The government is rubbing salt on the wounds of the common people, who are already crushed by the weight of inflation and spiralling cost of living," he added.

State BJP president RC Faldu too slammed the central government.

"The UPA government has set new benchmarks and records when it comes to inflation. The latest price hike will lead to an unprecedented rise in common man's budget. The government must revoke the decision at earliest," he said.

The ministers also added that Gujarat has been a soft target as the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) prices in the state have increased by around 25% in the past year or so.

“The people here are made to pay Rs7.28 extra as compared to Mumbai and Delhi. The recent price hike in petrol prices shows the failure of the government.”