To highlight the rising prices of fuel across India, the West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, preferred an e-scooty ride to her office on Thursday (Feb 25). Mamata, who was the pillion rider, as usual left her home in the morning. The scooty was driven by none else but one of her ministers, Farhad Hakeem.
Both of them were wearing helmet and mask and sporting posters of the Trinamool Congress.
Mamata undertook this exercise on the day the petrol prices in Kolkata touched Rs 91.20 per litre and of diesel Rs 84.20. In many other places in the country, the petrol price has crossed Rs 100 mark.
It was only on February 22 that the West Bengal government reduced the tax imposed on petrol and diesel by the state government by Re one.
On February 12 another poll-bound state, Assam, reduced the special duty levied on diesel and petrol by Rs five after the corona virus struck the country.
Mamata’s latest move to draw public attention towards the failure of the Narendra Modi government came on the day the Bharatiya Janata Party national president, J P Nadda, landed in the state for the third time this month.
After reaching the state capital he launched an election manifesto crowdsourcing campaign.
Speaking on the occasion, Nadda promised that the BJP, when voted to power, would give West Bengal a new culture. There would be no cut money, no corruption and plenty of development.
