Looted for 9 yrs by selling ?400 cylinder for ?1,100: Congress

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday took a veiled dig at the BJP government for Centre alleging that the election gifts started rolling out after fearing a dip in the vote and said the saffron party had mercilessly looted the people for last nine and half years and their sins cannot be washed away.

"When the votes started decreasing, then the election gifts started getting distributed. The merciless Modi government, which looted the hard-earned money of the people, is now showing feigned goodwill towards the mothers and sisters. For 9 and a half years, by selling Rs 400 LPG cylinders for Rs 1,100, they kept destroying the life of the common man, then why didn't any 'affectionate gift' come to mind?" Kharge wrote on X.

"The Modi government should know that in 2024, the anger of the troubled people of the country cannot be reduced by Rs 200 subsidy. Fear of INDIA is good, Modi ji, The public has made up its mind. The only option is to show exit door to BJP to beat inflation," Kharge said.

He added that the BJP government should know that after troubling 140 cr Indians for nine and a half years, handing over electoral lollipops will not work.

"Your sins of a decade will not be washed away. To counter the skyrocketing inflation implemented by the BJP, the Congress party for the first time in many states is going to provide cylinders only for Rs 500 to the poor. Many states, such as Rajasthan, have already implemented this," the Congress leader said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said three months before the five state elections, where the "BJP is staring at certain defeat", and six months before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is literally clutching at straws.

Jairam also claimed the slash in LPG prices is the result of BJP's rout in Karnataka polls and two "highly successful" opposition meetings and said people should expect more such "gifts" as Modi becomes "even more desperate to cling on to his chair."