The Congress in Assam attacked the BJP government over fuel price rise
With the Assam election two months away, the main opposition Congress today launched agitations across the state against rising fuel prices. The party alleged the BJP government has been "looting" the public in the name of fuel taxes.
The protests saw Congress leaders led by former union minister Mukul Wasnik carry cooking gas cylinders on their shoulders, wearing garland of onions and protesting at fuel stations across Assam, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Assam tomorrow.
Fuel price has become one of the major issues for the opposition parties before the assembly election, likely to be held in April-May.
While presenting the vote-on-account in the state assembly, Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had on February 12 announced to remove the additional cess of Rs 5, levied on petrol and diesel last year at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Congress's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said the BJP is "cruelly looting" the public with hiked fuel prices, especially during a "raging pandemic".
"Will the BJP government clarify whom it is busy levying tax for? Who is this government favouring at the expense of making people suffer so much?" leader of opposition in the Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia said.