Kerala Congress holds hunger strike against petrol price hike

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 16 : Kerala Congress on Tuesday held a hunger strike in front of Raj Bhavan in protest against the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullapally Ramachandran led the hunger strike which was inaugurated by Congress leader Oommen Chandy.
Ramachandran said "The poor people have been put to misery by the Centre which has hiked the prices of petroleum products. The state government is not ready to cut taxes on petrol and diesel, putting the people in hardship."
"During the last UDF government, the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had cut the state tax. But Pinarayi government is not doing it. Manmohan Singh too, while leading the UPA governments had given Rs 1,25,000 by way of subsidy," he added.
"This is a token strike, and if the Centre and the state governments fail to address the issue, the Congress will intensify the strike from tomorrow onwards," he further remarked.
The Centre had hiked the prices of LPG, petrol, and diesel in the national capital on Monday.
During her budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the imposition of Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC) of Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 4 per litre on diesel.