Spiralling fuel prices will not affect the polls

MADURAI: In Tuticorin on Thursday the Senior BJP leader L Ganesan has said that the petrol and diesel prices had gone up “very high” which is a worry indeed but the prime minister had convened a meeting to take necessary measures to mitigate the sufferings of the people. “Are people in BJP riding on air? Those in the BJP too fill the same petrol and diesel in their cars. We are not saying there is no issue but a solution has to be worked out,” he told the reporters.

He said that the fuel price spiralling was a result of the dollar value and crude oil prices which would not affect the BJP in the general elections. “The price will come down well ahead of the elections. It will drop by 25% if it is brought under the ambit of GST,” he said.

Ganesan denied to commenting on senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s controversial tweet that liquor baron Vijay Mallya who fled the country two years ago had informed the finance minister at the Central Hall of parliament before he left for London. “It is not nice to ask me about what he (Subramanian Swamy) said about it. Subramanian is a man who thinks freely and talks freely. We have given him this freedom,” he said.

Terming it too early to decide on alliances for next year’s general elections, the BJP leader said that the political parties had the freedom to criticise other parties until then. Ganesan who is in-charge of 10 of the 39 constituencies in the state refused to commit on or rule out possible alliances with DMK or AIADMK. According to him, DMK was hesitating to make any statements on several issues fearing that it would hurt the Congress.