Amid rising prices of petrol and diesel, Madhya Pradesh BJP faces a challenge ahead of the bypolls to 24 assembly seats in the state as the Opposition is trying to cash in on the negative sentiments against the ruling party.
Amid a corona-hit economy, the prices of petrol and diesel rose for the 16th consecutive day on Monday. With a hike of 35 paise, the price of petrol soared to Rs 87.19 a litre while with a 56 paise rise the prices of diesel per litre reached Rs 78.35 in Bhopal.
Demanding tax rate cut in petrol and diesel prices, the Congress party has announced state-wide protests over the issue on June 24.
With the constant hike, the petrol-diesel prices have surged by almost Rs 10 in the last fortnight in Bhopal as elsewhere. On June 6, the petrol was selling at Rs 77.56 a litre and diesel at Rs 68.27 in Bhopal.
The fuel prices weren’t revised during the lockdown but have witnessed an continuous rise following the announcement Unlock 1.0.
With the increasing fuel burden, the resentment has also been passed on to the public and Opposition Congress is not in mood to let go of this opportunity to corner the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
PCC media cell in-charge Jitu Patwari initiated the onslaught on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over rising prices with his stinging tweet on Monday.
Posted in Hindi, the tweet roughly translated to this, "Buy petrol and diesel every night and sell it in the morning to earn Rs 60 paisa per litre profit and become atma-nirbhar (self-reliant)."
Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath also took a dig at his successor in a series of tweets. "Those who protested while riding a cycle against fuel price hike in the past are absent these days." Instead of offering relief, the state government is burdening the public, he said.
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal claimed that the prices are rising as petroleum companies are revising rates according to their calculation daily. He accused the Congress of maintaining double-standards saying the party which had promised fuel rate cut ahead of coming to power had levied VAT on fuel after coming to power and is now accusing BJP of hiking rates.
Madhya Pradesh is among those states which impose maximum cess and taxes on petrol and diesel. As revenue collection has dwindled amid coronavirus scare in Madhya Pradesh, the Shivraj government had levied Re 1 each cess on petrol and diesel recently.
Prior to this, the petrol had cess of Rs 3.50 per litre and diesel Rs 2 a litre.
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