New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS): The Congress has asked party-ruled states to raise the cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders from six to nine, it was announced Wednesday.

The decision was taken by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at the party's core group meeting here.

"Wherever we have a government, they will get three more LPG cylinders at subsidised prices," party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said after the Congress Core Committee meeting.

This was also reiterated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, who said the Congress chief had told party-ruled state governments that they should raise the cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders by three cylinders at the rate of Rs.399 a cylinder.

Non-subsidised cooking gas cylinders shall be made available at Rs.750 a cylinder.

Last week, the government capped availability of subsidised cooking gas cylinders per family to six per year. The decision evoked immediate opposition from UPA allies, the opposition parties and various sections of society.