Communisty Party of India (CPI) State secretary K. Ramakrishna has said that the price of petrol and diesel are bound to hit a double century, if the BJP and YSR Congress Party governments are returned to power in the Centre and State respectively in the next general and Assembly elections.
The reception committee meeting of the forthcoming CPI State Mahasabha, to be held in the city, was held under the auspices of the CPI Anakapalli district secretary Balepalli Venkataramana at the Public Library here on Tuesday.
Addressing the participants, Mr. Ramakrishna said that the Centre was attributing the hike in the price of petrol and diesel to the failure of the States to reduce the VAT (Value Added Tax). He wondered, if that was the case, why has the prices not gone up when there were elections in five States. The prices were increased 14 times in 15 days after the elections, he said.
He recalled that BJP leaders and present Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Smriti Irani had staged protests with gas cylinders when price of a cylinder was hiked by ₹10. He wondered whether the BJP leaders had forgotten those days. Mr. Ramakrishna alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to fulfil even a single promise he had made during the 2014 elections.
The CPI leader alleged that the Prime Minister had failed to bring back the black money hoarded in Swiss banks and the promise of two crore jobs has not been fulfilled to this day. On the contrary 2.5 crore people had lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Ramakrishna said that no one knew about Adani before the BJP came to power but in the last eight years, he has purchased 30 companies and has become the richest person in Asia.
He alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has created history by borrowing left, right and centre during the last three years but failed to develop the State. Andhra Pradesh had ₹96,000 crore as debt, post bifurcation of the State. In the subsequent five years, former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had taken it to ₹1.28 lakh crore, Mr. Ramakrishna said.
A reception committee was formed for the CPI State Mahasabha to be held in the city from August 26 to 28. K.S. Chalam has been appointed as a patron. J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy as general secretary, Balepalli Venkataramana and P. Satyanarayana as deputy general secretaries and M. Pydiraju as treasurer.
