Mayawati slams BJP govt over LPG price hike

BSP president Mayawati today flayed the BJP government over the rise in price of subsidised cooking gas (LPG), saying it will only benefit the rich.

"Instead of extending relief to the poor, the BJP government is only concerned about the wealthy for whose benefit the prices of petroleum products are being constantly hiked," she said in a press release here.

Reacting to the charges, UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said the BSP supremo's concern for the poor was "laughable".

Describing the price hike as an anti-people move, Mayawati said, "People who had been troubled by rising petrol and diesel prices now have been further burdened with a hike in LPG price. This will adversely hit the poor and common people".

 

She also referred to recent incidents of a temple been cleaned with 'Ganga jal' (water from Ganga River) after a woman MLA, Manisha Anuragi, visited the place, and a Dalit female officer denied water.

Mayawati alleged that there had been a spurt in number of casteist cases under the BJP government.

Such incidents and the desecration of statues of great persons born in backward communities have exposed the BJP government, she said in the statement.

The BSP president also lashed out at the BJP leadership for leaving out 40 lakh people from Assam's draft National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Hitting out at the BSP leader, Pandey said in a statement, "Those who are deeply concerned about their family while sitting in closed rooms and busy knitting opportunistic alliances, their concern for the poor seems to be laughable".

"The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is integrating the backwards, deprived, Dalits and poor with the mainstream. Through the 'Ujjwala Yojana', crores of women have got rid of smoke (emanating from 'chullahs' in kitchens), paving way for their self-respect and good health," he said.

The UP BJP chief added that Mayawati was "unable" to see the welfare schemes started by the government for the poor as she has "always been worried about wealth and done politics in the name of poor and Dalits".