Shashi Tharoor pulls autorickshaw with rope to protest rising fuel prices

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rode pillion on an electric scooter as a mark of protest against fuel prices, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and other party workers staged a symbolic protest by pulling an auto-rickshaw with a rope in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday (February 26).

Congress workers marched outside the Kerala Secretariat, raised slogans and demanded the reduction of fuel prices. Tharoor uploaded a video of pulling autorickshaws on Twitter and wrote he protested against the “extortionate fuel taxes and the failure of both Central and State governments to reduce their share of the loot”.

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The Shiv Sena had also criticised the fuel price hike and said that the Centre should bring down the spiking petrol-diesel prices rather than collect donations for the construction of the Ram temple, and the party also objected to Bollywood stars for being silent over the rising fuel prices.

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, said the spike in fuel prices is because of an international matter and that prices will come down after winter. “Price is high due to increase in demand, it happens in winter. It will come down”, Pradhan was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

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Following Mamata Banerjee travelling on an electric scooter to protest against the hike in fuel prices, Union Minister Smriti led a BJP rally in Sonarpur, West Bengal, for 25 kilometres riding a scooter, while wearing a helmet and a mask, on February 26.