Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and 150 party workers have been accused of violating social distancing rules in a police complaint filed over their cycle protest against rising fuel prices in Bhopal on Wednesday.
Digvijaya Singh, who was joined by a number of party workers, rode a cycle for about 1 Kilometre from Bhopal's Roshanpura intersection to the Chief Minister's residence yesterday.
The Congress leader said that he will "welcome" if a case is registered for raising people's voice.
"I welcome if an FIR is registered against for raising people's voice. Who is getting the benefit of rising petrol prices - 1. Petrol pump owners 2. Petrol companies. 3. Central Government," Digvijaya Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.
The ruling BJP has termed the protest as a political stunt.
"Digvijay Singh should apologise first, they have said they will reduce petrol prices by Rs 5 in their Vachan Patra (manifesto), but increased the price by Rs 2 and spent the money on Jacquiline and Salman, we will use the same for Fighting Corona," state Home Minister Narrotam Mishra said, referring to reported expenses made on 21st International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA Awards) held in the state during the tenure of previous Congress government.
Digvijaya Singh's cycle ride was a part of statewide protests called by the Congress against the rise in petrol and diesel prices on Wednesday.
"Today, when people are getting infected with COVID-19. Inflation is increasing and people are dying of hunger. The Central government has increased excise duty on petrol and diesel for the eighteenth consecutive day," Mr Singh had said.
"As Modi ji says, opportunity in disaster, for them (Centre) corona disaster is an opportunity to earn the money," he added.
The Congress has been attacking the government over the hike in petrol and diesel prices continuously for 18 days, after the lockdown restrictions were relaxed.
In a first, diesel in Delhi became costlier than petrol on Wednesday. State-owned oil companies on Wednesday hiked the price of diesel while keeping that of petrol unchanged, marking the eighteenth straight hike in the price of diesel.
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