NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka unit staged a protest against Congress government on Wednesday criticising the recent price hikes, including that of milk in the state. The state government’s decided to hike milk prices by up to Rs 8 per litre, along with increases in bus fares and other transport costs.Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai claimed that over Rs 1 lakh crore in new taxes had been levied on the people of Karnataka.“From day one, they are increasing the price of all commodities, of all services, including land revenue. And it has gone to the sky high. The other day they increased rent. They increased water. They increased flour. They increased diesel. They have increased alcohol. They have increased all the taxes. So, almost more than one lakh crore in new tax has been levied on the people of Karnataka,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.“And other than this, they have taken a four lakh cr loan in the last three years. So it’s a heavy burden on the people of Karnataka. That’s why BJP has been protesting all along. And today they are making a protest against all the price rises done by the state government. This is an anti-people government and anti-development government,” he added.Former chief minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa joined the protest, criticising the price hikes and highlighting the burden they have placed on the public.“It’s very difficult for the common man that one cup of tea. They are raising it by about 10-12 rupees. The common man suffered lot. Not only milk, even bus charges also they have raised and bus luggage also they have raised,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying.
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“So it shows that this government not all bothered about the common man. So that’s why we are seeing dharna today. We are protesting. I will demand chief minister to withdraw all this unnecessary rise of price price rise,” he added.The protest was led by BJP state president B Y Vijayendra, leader of opposition in the legislative assembly R Ashoka and leader of opposition in the legislative council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy. BJP workers raised slogans against the Congress government, condemning the recent hikes in milk prices and bus fares.The protesters accused the state government, led by D K Shivakumar, of burdening ordinary people with successive price increases and described it as an “anti-people government”.