The BJP on Friday blamed the Opposition parties for doing “petty politics” over high fuel prices by not reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) in the States ruled by them two days after the Centre reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel by ₹ 5 and ₹ 10 respectively.
Addressing a presser at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Gautam Bhatia said the Opposition attacked the Centre over high prices of diesel and petrol but did not follow suit when the Union Government slashed the excise duty.
“States ruled by the party have slashed VAT on fuel to add to the relief provided to the common man by the Centre, but the States ruled by the Opposition parties like the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have not done so,” he stated. “If the Centre and the BJP-ruled States can give relief to people, then why not the Congress-ruled States.”
Noting that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had dubbed the Central Government a “pickpocket” over the high fuel prices and used the “extortion” barb at it, Mr. Bhatia observed that it appeared that there was no bigger “pickpocket” than the Congress.
“The VAT on petrol in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan is ₹ 32.19, and it is ₹ 31 in the Opposition alliance-ruled Maharashtra now compared ₹ 21.86 and ₹ 20.46 in the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” he added.
