Congress defends price hike, dares Centre to rollback excise duty on fuel
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson M. Lakshman defended the hike in fuel prices and dared the Union government to slash excise duty on petrol and diesel.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Lakshman said the hike in petrol and diesel prices effected by the Congress in the State was “marginal” and continued to be lower than the fuel rate in most other States.
He said the increase in fuel price was reasonable and alleged that the BJP had reduced fuel price three years ago which was politically motivated and economically flawed and had resulted in a loss of ₹15,184 crore to the State exchequer. The present hike is nominal and is an attempt to bridge the deficit caused by the earlier move by the BJP government, he added.
Mr. Lakshman said it was ridiculous to suggest that the hike in petrol and diesel prices was effected to raise resources to fund the guarantee scheme. “The guarantee schemes cost around ₹60,000 crore for which Budgetary allocation has been made whereas the hike in fuel price will fetch only a fraction of that amount and hence the argument was devoid of merit,” he added.
Responding to the protests by the BJP seeking a rollback on the hike, Mr. Lakshman said the Congress would launch a counter protest demanding that the Union government slash excise duty.
“Though the international crude oil price has fallen, the Modi government was not passing on the benefit to the commoners,” said Mr. Lakshman comparing the fuel price when the Congress-led UPA government was at the helm of affairs in 2014, with the present price after 10 years of BJP rule. The Union government has raked in more than what has been passed on to the public, he added.
The KPCC spokesperson said that in the days ahead the Congress will launch a counter protest to highlight the increase in prices of essential commodities including potatoes, onions, LPG, etc. When the BJP was in power in Karnataka electricity rates were increased nine times but it is Congress that recently reduced the price per unit of power by ₹1.10, he added.
The Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok came under flak for his statements that the Congress was penalising the people for voting against it in the Lok Sabha polls and said that such remarks smacks of immaturity. “He is unfit to be the Leader of the Opposition,” said Mr. Lakshman and challenged him for a debate on the issue.
The KPCC spokesperson lashed out at the state BJP leadership for not raising issues relevant to the development of Karnataka and “advised” the MPs to demand projects of importance like Mekedatu, increasing the height of Alamatti dam etc and not pursue divisive politics by raking up emotive issues.
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