Kolkata, March 8 -- Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for announcing a token reduction in cooking gas ahead of the Lok Sabha elections calling the attempt 'another jumla' and a political desperation.

The ruling party in Bengal said that it was a sinister trap by the Modi government to lure women voters, by announcing a token reduction in cooking gas prices just days before the announcement of Lok Sabha elections and implementation of the Model Code of Conduct.

"Country needs a Pradhan Mantri, what we have is an election mantra. The party exposed the anti-women Modi government by reminding that political gimmicks such as reducing fuel or gas prices before state or central elections are nothing but a PR opportunity for the BJP's Zamindars," reads a press statement issued by Trinamool Congress.

Trinamool MPs also highlighted how it was the BJP that caused the skyrocketing inflation over the last five years due to its faulty policies. Elaborating on how BJP's election plans caused an additional economic burden on families for the past 7 months, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said: "Modi first made a token cut in LPG prices on Raksha Bandhan last year. And now he's made one today on Women's Day after a WHOLE 7 MONTHS. If the Modi Govt could afford to reduce LPG prices all this while, why wasn't it done for the last 7 months?"

"It doesn't matter to Modi how women of India survive under sky-high LPG prices all year unless he gets to have an "event" & a PR opportunity. Modi's "Naari Shakti" is limited to election campaigning. That's the only time he remembers that women exist. The "concern" for the women of India is meant only on special days where Modi can "take benefit" for his own selfish advantage," Gokhale wrote on X.

Another Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose also questioned the timing of the announcement and said: "All this time, all these years the women consumers were labouring under the burden of high LPG prices and the Modi government didn't see fit to lower the prices even when the global prices were low. The country needs a Pradhan Mantri, what we have is an election Mantri."

TMC leader and spokesperson Santanu Sen dismissed the move as an "election gimmick" of the BJP.

This is the second reduction in cooking gas prices in six months.

Rates were cut by Rs 200 per cylinder in late August ahead of Assembly elections in five states, including Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.