The Union government’s decision to slash prices of LPG by Rs 200 per cylinder has stirred up a political debate with the opposition terming it a “poll gimmick” and the result of two “successful” meetings of the INDIA alliance.

The Narendra Modi government’s move assumes significance as it comes ahead of the Assembly elections in five states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, later this year.

The Congress party said people should expect more such “gifts” as Prime Minister Modi becomes “even more desperate to cling on to his chair”.

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Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the BJP is literally clutching at straws ahead of the state elections and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “Three months before the five state elections, where BJP is staring at certain defeat, and six months before the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is literally clutching at straws,” he said.

“Two highly successful INDIA meetings in two months and the third coming up in two days,” he said referring to the opposition alliance meeting in Mumbai beginning Thursday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The election gifts have started getting distributed as the votes have started decreasing. The merciless Modi government, which looted the hard-earned money of the people, is now showing feigned goodwill towards the mothers and sisters. Why didn’t any “affectionate gift” come to mind for 9 and a half years they kept destroying the lives of the common man when they were selling Rs 400 LPG cylinders for Rs 1100?”

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“The BJP government should know that after torturing 140 crore Indians for nine and a half years, handing over “electoral lollipops” will not work. Your sins of a decade will not be washed away,” Kharge further said.

To counter the backbreaking inflation implemented by the BJP, the Congress party for the first time in many states is going to provide cylinders to the poor at only Rs 500. Many states, such as Rajasthan, have already implemented this.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre’s decision to slash LPG prices by Rs 200 was an impact of the INDIA opposition alliance. Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is a major ally of the opposition bloc.

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“Till now, only two meetings have been held in the past TWO months by the INDIA alliance and today, we see that LPG prices have gone down by Rs 200. Yeh hai #INDIA ka dum!” Banerjee wrote on X.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh also dubbed the Centre’s move as a “poll gimmick” ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“LPG rates were reduced by Rs 200 after Patna and Bengaluru meetings (of INDIA alliance). I am sure that petrol and diesel rates will come down after the Mumbai meeting,” AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said on the INDIA opposition bloc’s scheduled meeting in Mumbai on Aug 31 and Sept 1.

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Shashi Bhushan Behera said, “They didn’t see the tears in the eyes of our women all these years and have taken this decision four to five months before (Lok Sabha elections). The reduction (in LPG price) is not enough, more should have been done.”

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“This is not enough, prices should have been reduced more. For the G20 Summit, Rs 3.5-4,000 crore is being spent. If the same money would have been used for gas cylinders, then prices would have come down to Rs 300,” says AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

NCP MP Supriya Sule said, “This is ‘jumla’ government…What will happen by decreasing Rs 200…When our government was in power, the prices were Rs 400 per cylinder…Today, it is Rs 1150…They should have decreased the prices by Rs 500 or Rs 700…This is all election ‘jumla’…They did not think about inflation for four and a half years…The people of Karnataka rejected them because of inflation and unemployment…That’s why the central government is in fear.”

BJP defends decision

The BJP government, however, ruled out the opposition charges and said the decision was motivated out of a genuine sense of feeling for the citizens.

“The whole nation is extending a warm welcome to this decision. People will get a Rs 200 reduction in the prices of cylinders, and the prices of cylinders will come down from Rs 1100 to Rs 900. This is not politically motivated, it is motivated out of a genuine sense of feeling for the citizens. It is a brother’s gift to his sisters,” Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told news agency ANI.

Effective from Wednesday (August 29), the price of a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder has been reduced by Rs 200 across the country. In Delhi, the price of a cylinder will come down from the existing Rs 1,103 per cylinder to Rs 903.