Opposition misleading people on price rise issue: Murli Deora

Bangalore, July 3 (ANI): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Murli Deora defended the government's move in hiking the prices of petroleum products and slammed the Opposition by contending that it is misleading the people on the impact of the price rise.

Deora said the hike in the prices of petrol, oil and lubricants by the Government is justified.

"35 rupees have been increased for LPG cylinders. We get one rupee per day. Is it fair for you to make hue and cry that we have increased? We have increased one rupee per day. It is very minimum. After increasing from nine to 12, we still lose so much money," said Deora.

"Please co-operate. They Opposition parties are misguiding people. They know they are misguiding people because when they were in power, when National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government were in power, they increased it from two to nine," he added.

Deora further said the Opposition must appreciate the reasons behind the hike and not go ahead with their plans for protest strikes and shutdowns.

"The price rise was inevitable since the Government could no more bear losses incurred due to subsidies extended to the people," he added.

The Central Government had on June 25 decided to raise petrol and diesel prices, as part of a plan to move towards a market-determined fuel price regime in accordance with the Kirit Parikh Committee recommendation.

The government has raised the price of petrol by Rs 3.73 and diesel by Rs 2 per litre. (ANI)