New Delhi: The Opposition tore into the NDA government at the Centre on Tuesday over a sudden spike in fuel taxes and cooking gas prices, accusing the Modi government of unleashing yet another assault on household budgets. From Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, leaders across party lines slammed the NDA regime for what they termed as ‘economic cruelty’ inflicted on the common man.

In a double whammy for consumers, the price of domestic LPG cylinders was raised by Rs 50, while CNG went up by Rs 1 per kg. Simultaneously, excise duty on petrol was hiked to Rs 13 per litre and diesel to Rs 10—just as global crude oil prices slid to a three-year low. Rahul Gandhi led the charge, sarcastically applauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi for offering a “befitting reply to tariffs.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge went a step further, calling it “a gift of loot” from a government that has remained “in Kumbhakaran-like” slumber even as the economy buckled under the weight of inflation. In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Wah, Modi ji, Wah!! International crude oil prices have fallen by 41 per cent compared to May 2014 but your plundering government, instead of reducing the prices of petrol and diesel, has increased the central excise duty by Rs 2 each.”

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who has been at loggerheads with the Centre over various issues, including delimitation and the three-language policy in the National Education Policy, termed the Union government “sadist” and demanded they roll back the price hike without waiting for polls.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav followed suit slamming the Centre over the price hike and alleged discrepancies in the MUDRA loan scheme. Yadav wrote in an X post, “On completion of 10 years of the MUDRA scheme, contradictory data has exposed scams and irregularities worth Rs 33 lakh crore under the BJP government.”

Terming BJP’s Janakrosha Yatre as “farce”, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah too on Monday had said, “Now I want to know the reaction of the BJP leaders in the state. The BJP leaders should explain to the people of the state why the Central Government is continuously increasing the prices of petroleum products even though the price of crude oil is falling in the international market.”

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee came to the fore saying the idea of NDA government’s “Vikas” is to extract every last penny from the common people. “The idea of ‘Vikas’ for BJP government at the Centre seems to be squeezing every last penny from the pockets of ordinary Indians. From essential medicines to petrol, diesel, and cooking gas, every necessity is slowly becoming a luxury,” Banerjee posted on X.