Bengaluru, Nov 13 (IANS) The BJP has slammed the Congress government in Karnataka, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, for “preparing” to hike petrol prices by another Re 1 per litre.

Slamming the state government, Leader of the Opposition R. Ashoka on Thursday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

He said: “Petrol price gets costlier again; another blow to the common man’s pocket by the Congress-led government. In June 2024, petrol price was hiked by Rs 3 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.5. In April 2025, again, diesel prices were hiked by Rs 2, and in November 2025, it is proposed to hike petrol prices by Re 1 per litre.

How long will people of Karnataka have to pay the price for the Congress government’s “misrule”, “inefficiency”, and “corruption”? Ashoka questioned.

He said the state government is “lost” in unnecessary “controversies” such as transfer of power, cabinet expansion, the proposed RSS ban, and the Dharmasthala case, and has completely “neglected” the farmers.

Ashoka said that the government has not even provided the compensation to farmers, as promised.

Notably, the state government has announced that it will provide compensation to farmers within 30 days of the announcement.

According to sources, the state government is contemplating imposing a cess of Re 1 on petrol, diesel and ethanol products towards the welfare of unorganised workers.

The Labour Department is hopeful that if the cess of Re 1 is imposed on every litre of petrol, the benefits could be extended to 1.30 crore workers and their 62 lakh families.

It is also assessed that by imposing a cess of Re 1 per litre on both petrol and diesel, the state could generate Rs 2,120 crore, and the Labour Department officials have opined that among this amount, Rs 1,772 crore could be spent on providing health facilities to the unorganised workers.

–IANS

mka/svn