Don’t press panic button on energy crisis, says PM

Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu): Amid the LPG shortage triggered by the West Asia conflict, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday appealed to people to not panic and assured public interest will be protected. At a poll rally here, he tore into the DMK.

Addressing the NDA meeting in poll-bound Tamil Nadu, he slammed the ruling DMK over alleged corruption, dynasty politics and broken promises.

The PM expressed confidence of tackling the LPG crisis, where short supply of commercial LPG has crippled the country's hotel sector.

“I would like to appeal to people, let us only spread correct, verified information,” he said, apparently referring to the LPG crisis. The conflict has affected whole world’s energy supply chain, he said. “Today, I would like to speak to the people of Tamil Nadu about the conflict in West Asia. It has affected the whole world’s energy supply chain. We believe in the ideology of India first. There is no need to panic or pay attention to rumours. In any situation, we have seen how our government always puts interests of India above everything,” he said.

“During Covid pandemic, 140 crore Indians showed the world how mature our nation is. I am confident that as a nation, we will navigate every situation successfully,” he said.

The PM’s comments came in the wake of the commercial LPG short supply and opposition criticism over the issue and also amidst fears of a possible shortage of or spurt in prices of petrol and diesel in the coming days.