Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a swipe at the Narendra Modi government over the increase in fuel prices and said the condition of the government is such that if the rates do not increase then it becomes big news.
In a tweet in Hindi, Rahul Gandhi, who is Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad said, "Such is the development of Modi government that if the prices of petrol and diesel do not increase any day then it becomes a bigger news."
His remarks came over the issue of increase in the price of fuel prices across the country. On Friday, petrol prices were hiked again by 26-27 paise while diesel rates went up by 28-30 paise, taking fuel prices across metros to record highs.
Crossed Rs.100-mark
The Congress has been critical of the Centre over the rise in the fuel prices in the last several months. In several states, the price of petrol per litre has crossed Rs 100 while diesel is selling at over Rs 90 per litre. On Friday, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) raised the price of petrol and diesel between 23-30 paisa per litre across the four metros.
Accordingly, the price of petrol increased by 27 paisa per litre to Rs 96.93 per litre and diesel by 28 paisa per litre to Rs 87.69 per litre in Delhi. In Mumbai, where petrol price crossed Rs 100 mark for the first time ever on May 29, the fuel price reached new high of Rs 103.08 per litre on Friday. Diesel price also increased in the city by 30 paisa per litre to reach Rs 95.14 a litre, the highest among metros.
Petrol prices in the two other metros have also reached closer to Rs 100 per litre mark and OMC officials said that if international oil prices continued to firm up, this mark could also be breached in other places by month-end.
With Friday's price hike, fuel prices have now increased on 26 days and remained unchanged on 23 days since May 1. The 26 increases have taken up the petrol prices by Rs 6.54 per litre in Delhi. Similarly, diesel have increased by Rs 6.96 per litre in the national capital.
