BJP calls nationwide stir against petrol price hike

BJP on Thursday attacked the government for increasing the prices of petrol and diesel and announced a nationwide agitation against the hike, which it said will heap burden on the common man.

Seeking to fault the Congress on its "aam aadmi" plank, BJP president Rajnath Singh said the hike will push up the prices of essential commodities, affecting all sections of the society, particularly the middle class and farmers.

"The common man will have to bear the brunt of the petrol price hike. The Congress-led UPA government has failed to control price rise," Singh told PTI in the Capital.

He said the party will launch a countrywide agitation against the hike from Friday. Singh slammed the Government's "flawed" economic policy and blamed it for the distress in agrarian sector, food security crisis and volatility in stock market.

"The Congress-led Government's inability to check price rise means its economic policies are faulty or there is corruption or it has no control over the system," he said.

He also ridiculed the Left parties for opposing the petrol price hike, saying "they only bark, don't bite". Separately, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar accused the UPA government of profiteering from the oil sector by hiking petrol prices, which he said is sure to further trigger inflationary trends.