'BJP responsible for fuel price hike': Mamata Banerjee slams Centre, demands all-party meet over 'economic crisis'

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday flayed the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for skyrocketing fuel prices, and urged it to call an all-party meeting to find solutions to the ‘ongoing economic problems.’

Banerjee also alleged that the Centre allowed steep price hikes of petrol and diesel to divert attention from the ‘atrocities’ carried out by the saffron party in non-BJP states.

"The Centre has no plans to deal with the fuel price hike. The BJP is responsible for this crisis; it's their return gift to the country after winning the Uttar Pradesh elections,” she told reporters at the state secretariat.

Attacking the Centre, she said, "Coal comes from UP, Jharkhand, Rajasthan. The economic condition in India is worse than in Sri Lanka. I am not comparing our nation with Sri Lanka. But, in the last two weeks, the petrol & diesel prices have been hiked 10 times. Don’t muzzle the voice of people.''

"Instead of using agencies like the CBI and ED against opposition parties, the Centre must convene an all-party meeting to resolve the ongoing economic problems," the Bengal Chief Minister added.

Mamata Banerjee also handed over the letters of govt jobs to the kin of those killed in the recent Birbhum violence. For one year, they will get Rs.10,000 per month. Later, they will get a permanent job with the state government, she said during the press conference.