Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Sake Sailajanath on Thursday accused the Union and State governments of competing with each other in imposing hefty taxes on petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
Launching a signature campaign here, Dr. Sailajanath said that though the crude oil prices at the international level were high when the Congress was in power at the Centre, it had kept the central excise duty at a resonable level. The Modi government at the Centre, however, had lost the confidence of the people due to its ‘anti-people policies’, he claimed.
All sections of people were suffering because of the price rise fuelled by petrol crossing the century-mark, he said, and wanted both the Centre and the State governments to come forward and make fuel available at an affordable price and in proportion to the rate prevailing globally.
“It is unfortunate that all essential commodities had gone out of reach of the common people who were struggling to make a living during the pandemic,” he said, after paying tributes to late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who brought the Congress party to power in undivided Andhra Pradesh ending the rule of the Telugu Desam Party.
The Congress would take up a protracted struggle to end the ‘inept’ BJP-led government at the Centre and the YSR Congress Party government in the State, said District Congress president Ch. Devakumar Reddy.
