All-India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the BJP governments at the Centre and in the State were “looting and fleecing” people by raising petrol and diesel prices for the ninth consecutive day.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Mr. Surjewala said that fuel and LPG cylinder prices were skyrocketing because of “Modi and Yediyurappa tax”. While fuel prices were barely ₹30 a litre, farmers, the poor, and the salaried and middle classes were being made to pay because of high taxes by the Centre and the State, he said. He asked why the government of Karnataka was not reducing its own VAT on petrol and diesel to give some relief to the public.
Cooking LPG cylinder prices have crossed the ₹770 mark and prices have increased by more than ₹175 per cylinder in this year alone, he said.
The Centre has proposed to collect ₹2 lakh crore in the form of taxes on fuel in 2020-21. “Inflation is sky high. Modi tax and Yediyurappa tax must end,” Mr. Surjewala said.
He was in Bengaluru to attend the wedding reception of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar’s daughter Aishwarya and Amartya Hegde, son of the late Cafe Coffee Day founder V.G. Siddhartha, at a private resort on the outskirts of the city.
