New Delhi: Even as his party defended the
fuel price hike, Congress leader Anil Shastri today dubbed the
rise in prices of kerosene and LPG as "disastrous for the
common man" and appealed to party chief Sonia Gandhi to
immediately intervene in the matter.
Shastri, who is a special invitee to the CWC and the
Editor of party mouthpiece `Congress Sandesh`, told reporters
that his stand was not against the party line.
"Has the party welcomed the hike?" he queried.
At the same time, he said that there might have been
compulsions for the government to raise the prices.
Shastri, however said that his appeal to Gandhi was to
intervene like on earlier occasions. He said she should
intervene again which could lead to revising of the policy.
Asked if he was toeing the opposition line, Shastri
denied it, saying his line was that of the Congress.
"Increase in prices of kerosene and cooking gas is
disastrous. The common man is badly affected. Soniaji must
immediately intervene," he wrote in microblogging site
`Twitter`, stirring a debate on the issue.
Shastri`s comments came close on the heels of party
spokesman Manish Tewari defending the fuel hike contending
that sometimes government has to take "tough economic
decisions" in national interest and such people understand the
context of such decisions.
-PTI
