Rahul Gandhi hints at Centre’s plan to jack up fuel prices after last phase of polling

Two days before the last phase of ongoing assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Centre by warning people to be prepared for a drastic rise in fuel prices.

The senior Congress leader tweeted in Hindi, which meant: “Quickly fill up your tanks, please. Modi government’s ‘election’ offer is about to end.”

Notably, international oil prices are hovering around $110 a barrel, a price range reached for the first time since 2014 amidst raging war in Ukraine.

It is widely believed that state-run oil companies will jack up petrol and diesel prices once the elections are over, to match the international price range. As per one estimate, the price needs to be increased by at least Rs 12 per litre for oil companies to break even.

On March 1, crude oil price in India crossed $102 per barrel price, the highest price since 2014, states the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry. In November last year, the price fluctuated around $80 a barrel.

On March 5, petrol and diesel prices were unchanged, which has been the situation for the last four months or so, mainly because of state elections, say political analysts. It is a usual practice to freeze fuel prices around election time, but this phase of stagnancy has been the longest since June 2017. In Delhi, petrol costs ₹ 95.41 a litre and diesel is priced at ₹ 86.67.

The seventh and last phase of voting for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will be held on Monday (March 7). The counting of votes for all the five states is scheduled for March 10.