New Delhi: Terming the cut in fuel prices as a “panic reaction”, the Congress on Thursday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring down the prices back to the 2014 level as well as get petroleum products under the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Congress chief spokesp-erson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkh-and and Rajasthan levy the highest value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products. He demanded that the fuel be brought under the GST, whose tax slabs are much lower than the VAT levied.
Mr Surjewala said that an RTI reply has revealed that the Modi government was selling petrol and diesel to several countries at less than half the price, at which it was being sold in India. This show that this government “is fleecing its own people.”
Daring Mr Modi to bring fuel prices back to the 2014 level instead of throwing a “pittance of one or two rupees” at the public, Mr Surjewala said the cut in fuel prices was “insignificant, like needle in a hay stack”. The cut was “a panic reaction in the face of public anger” ahead of assembly polls in four states, he added. “After inflicting a thousand wounds, the Modi government is offering band-aid,” he summed up.
The government on Thursday announced a Rs 2.50 per litre cut in petrol and diesel prices by reducing excise duty and asking PSU oil firms to take a hit of Rs 9,000 crore.a step that was matched by BJP-ruled states by slashing VAT so as to double the reduction in retail rates.
