BJP dismisses fuel scarcity claims, slams Congress for spreading panic

State BJP president N. Ramchander Rao on Wednesday clarified that there was no scarcity of petrol, diesel, or cooking gas in the State.

Addressing a gathering after welcoming a large number of workers from various political parties who joined the BJP from the Rajendranagar Assembly constituency in Rangareddy district, he alleged that the Congress party was spreading “false information” about a shortage of petrol and diesel, triggering unnecessary panic among people.

Mr. Rao urged people not to believe rumours regarding fuel shortages, stating that there were adequate reserves of petrol, diesel, and gas in the country. He said the Narendra Modi-led government had taken precautionary measures in view of the ongoing war situation to ensure uninterrupted supply.

He further stated that sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel were available across the country and that officials from the State Civil Supplies Department, along with fuel dealers, had also confirmed there was no shortage. Adequate supplies were available with public sector oil marketing companies such as HPCL, IOCL, and BPCL, he said.

Mr. Rao also strongly condemned Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s remarks on the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, accusing him of trying to create “differences between the north and the south”. He dismissed Mr. Reddy’s claim that delimitation would politically disadvantageous to the southern States.

“Is it not a fact that the Vice-President, the Finance Minister, the External Affairs Minister and the Tourism Minister all belong to south India?” he asked. Alleging that the Congress party was opposing delimitation because it was not in favour of implementing 33% reservation for women in the forthcoming elections, Mr. Rao said adding that the BJP would field more women and youth in the coming polls.

‘Suspend MIM MLAs’

Earlier in the day, Mr. Rao led a BJP delegation to Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla and submitted a memorandum seeking directions to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to initiate steps to suspend the membership of MIM party MLAs for allegedly walking out of the House when Vande Mataram was being sung recently.

Accompanied by general secretaries N. Gowtham Rao, Vemula Ashok, T. Veerender Goud and others, Mr. Rao said the walkout was an “unfortunate incident” that caused the party “deep agony” and “anguish”. The memorandum stated that the act amounted to “contempt”, bringing “great dishonour” and “insult” to the nation.

It recalled that Vande Mataram was a widely used slogan during the freedom struggle and had inspired generations in their fight against British rule. According to the BJP, instead of standing in respect while the song was being played, the MIM MLAs chose to walk out, raising serious questions about their commitment to national values.