The BJP has alleged that the petroleum companies have stopped issuing new LPG connections because the government aims to privatise the domestic gas supply to favour a particular corporate house.

The issuance of new connections was declared stopped yesterday even as the order list crossed two lakh. "The government wants to give LPG connections only to those who are ready to buy it without any subsidy.

A new transparent gas cylinder would be launched in the market by a private company to be sold at Rs 700. Eventually, the government would fix the price of such cylinders to Rs 1500," claimed Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan.

He alleged that the move was being made at the instance of the leaders of the political party, who played an important role in "purchasing MPs to save the government in the trust vote".

Charging that open black-marketing of gas cylinders was going on in Delhi, the state BJP chief said that instead of making the supply of petro products competitive, the government was planning to give monopoly to a particular company.