BJP, Congress trade barbs over hike in LPG price

The BJP’s local unit termed Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky’s remarks criticising the central government’s Rs 50 increase in domestic LPG cylinder prices as “misleading, hollow, and purely driven by political motives”. Chandigarh state president Jitendra Pal Malhotra said Congress never cared about the poor during its tenure, adding, “Today, when the central government is implementing schemes for the upliftment of the underprivileged, Congress is doing what it does best — criticism and vote-bank politics.”

“Lucky may have forgotten, but the people still remember clearly how, during the Congress era, getting a gas cylinder was like chasing a dream for the common man. People had to stand in long queues, seek recommendations from MPs and leaders just to get a connection,” Malhotra said.

BJP protests grenade attack

Meanwhile, following a grenade attack on the house of senior BJP leader and former minister Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar last night, party workers held a demonstration in Rupnagar. District BJP president Ajayvir Singh Lalpura said the law-and-order in the state has completely collapsed.