Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stepped up his attack on the government over the hike in price of domestic LPG cylinder, and said only his party governs for the welfare of poor and middle class families.

Cooking gas LPG prices were on Saturday hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in just over six weeks following the firming of international energy rates.

Non-subsidised LPG now costs Rs 999.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from Rs 949.50 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

In a tweet, Gandhi compared the price of domestic LPG cylinder of about Rs 410 with a subsidy of Rs 827 in 2014 under a Congress-led government to that of over Rs 999 with “zero subsidy” in 2022 under the BJP-led Centre.

“2 cylinders then for the price of 1 now!” the former Congress chief said. “Only Congress governs for the welfare of poor & middle class Indian families. It’s the core of our economic policy,” he said.

After the hike on Saturday, Gandhi had said millions of Indian households are waging a difficult battle against “extreme inflation”, unemployment and “poor governance”.