Terming the hike of Rs 1.40 in the petrol price as a totally irrational and anti-people decision of the Congress led UPA government at the centre, Punjab Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal said that sole motive of this hike was to give undue benefit to the big Oil companies. Reacting sharply on the price hike, the Chief Minister said that the price hike was a clear attempt on the part of the UPA government to extend largesse to the big oil companies that too at the cost of the common man. Mr. Badal said that this move was reflective of centre’s doublespeak policy as on one hand it was claiming that the recent budget would arrest the inflationary trends but to everyone’s utter surprise just within 24 hours of its presentation the Congress led UPA government has clandestinely hiked the petrol price by Rs 1.40. He said that this hike in the prices of Petrol has exposed the anti people face of the Congress party.
Lashing out at the UPA government, the Chief Minister said that though the Centre was duty bound to check the prices of essential commodities but it has miserably failed on this count. Mr Badal categorically said the common man was suffering terribly due to the illogical policies of the UPA government coupled with uncontrollable prices further making it extremely difficult especially for the middle and lower middle class to make their both ends meet. He ridiculed the Centre for pursuing the interest of pro-rich and multinational companies at the cost of poor and disadvantaged sections of the society.
The Chief Minister bemoaned that the increase in petrol price would further break the back bone of the common man and it would be very difficult for him to survive now. He said hike would add to the burden of the common man which was already reeling under the high rate of inflation. Mr Badal also lamented that actually the Congress party was just waiting for the completion of election process in a few states for increasing the prices of petrol adding that once the elections results have been declared the UPA government wasted no time in hiking the prices of petrol.
Mr Badal called upon the centre that it would have been better if it had consulted the Chief Minister’s of all the states before hiking the price of petrol. Without mincing any word the Chief Minister pointed out that since the UPA government was hand in glove with the MNC and big oil companies therefore it had never consulted the states earlier and taken these decisions on its own to pursue their agenda.
However, the Chief Minister reminded the UPA government that its days were numbered and the people had already made up their mind to show it door during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He said that it was writing on the wall that the people of country would not tolerate such irrational decisions taken by the Centre unilaterally at the behest of Oil Companies anymore. Mr Badal said that such anti poor and anti-people stance of UPA would further speed up the process of decimation of congress from national scene.