The members of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Tirupati city committee held a novel protest against the hike in petrol and diesel prices, near Ambedkar statue in Tirupati on Wednesday. AITUC district president Chandrashekhar Reddy and general secretary Radhakrishna participated in the event.

The AITUC leaders took up an innovative protest by wearing various costumes and worshipping vehicles. During the protest, they pulled the autorickshaws with ropes and shouted slogans against the Prime Minister. They alleged that the Central government was messing with the lives of auto workers.

Communist Party of India (CPI) district general secretary P. Murali said, “In the recent election campaign, PM Narendra Modi announced that petrol and diesel prices would not go up in the future, but the prices have been hiked by ₹3 per litre from the third day after the elections. To add to it, another rupee was increased yesterday.”

The AITUC and CPI leaders warned that the prices of essential commodities would skyrocket in the future due to this price hike, and that people will suffer psychologically and financially. If this continues, there will be resistance from the people, they warned.