New Delhi: The Congress slammed the government for “playing a cruel joke” on the people after the prices of petrol and diesel recorded an effective cut of one paisa on Wednesday.
“In four years, we have seen a loot of Rs 10 lakh crore when it comes to fuel prices. Today, there was a cut of one paisa. This is a cruel joke,” said Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh, adding this “cut” came after a 16 days of continuous increase in fuel prices.
“They are ready to offer Rs 100 crores to buy MLAs in Karnataka. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) spends Rs 4,600 crore in advertisements in five years, and they reduce fuel prices by just one paisa,” he added.
Prices of petrol and diesel were cut by one paisa on Wednesday after the Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) website initially showed a fall of around 50-60 paise per litre in fuel prices.
“The government has increased excise duty up to more than 400 per cent and 200 per cent on petrol and diesel prices respectively. This government has earned Rs 10 lakh crore in the four years. Why doesn’t the government give accounts of this to the people,” said Singh.
“The PM is busy travelling, whereas people are incurring losses. We want to tell the government, as our party president (Rahul Gandhi) has said, we will fight against the the government till the prices of diesel and petrol are reduced,” he added.
He also said that it was the government’s responsibility to bring petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax.
The party has launched a nation-wide campaign at the state and district level to protest against the rise in the prices of petroleum products. The Indian Youth Congress also organised a ‘Bharat Bachao Jan Andolan’ march on Wednesday.
IANS