Nagpur: Opposition parties in Maharashtra launched a sharp attack on the Centre, alleging that rise in petrol and diesel prices immediately after elections in five states exposes what they called a “pattern of electoral profiteering at the expense of common citizens”. Former NCP (SP) MLA Anil Deshmukh said that even marginal fuel hike during UPA tenure, after no option was available, would witness massive protest by BJP. “Today, old video clips of PM Modi criticising fuel price hikes are going viral. Now, they are hiking prices while repackaging it saying it is moral duty of citizens to save fuel,” said Deshmukh.Maharashtra Pradesh Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe claimed they knew that BJP was waiting for election results to increase prices. “The Rs3 hike is simply a trailer, movie is yet to come. CM Devendra Fadnavis going for a cabinet meeting on a Bullet or other ministers taking the metro train are nothing but photo ops. Within a few days, these same people will be taking chartered flights and sitting cosily in an SUV of their entourage. PM Modi is on a multi-country tour and advises people to avoid foreign travel and conserve fuel,” Londhe said. Congress MLA and former minister Vijay Wadettiwar attacked the Maharashtra govt over its decision to cut taxes on aviation turbine fuel (ATF), calling it a move that benefits big airlines. “Instead of pandering to industrialists, the state govt should have made efforts to provide relief to the common people from inflation. Govt does not care for ordinary citizens who will face the impact of rising prices of petrol, diesel and CNG. The Modi govt has pushed the entire country into a whirlpool of inflation,” said Wadettiwar. In a post on X, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar wrote that the UPA govt led by Manmohan Singh had kept petrol and diesel prices stable at around Rs60 per litre even when crude oil was at $110 per barrel. He claimed that after 2014, even as crude dropped to an average of $60 per barrel, the central govt hiked taxes from Rs9 to Rs32, pushing prices to around Rs90 per litre and imposing what he called a Rs10 lakh crore burden on common people.
