Nitish Kumar welcomes Centre's fuel price cut; 'discussing whether Bihar can reduce rates'

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday welcomed the Central government's step to reduce excise duty on petrol and diesel prices to bring relief to citizens. He said that the discussions are on whether the state will reduce fuel prices.

"It is good that central govt took the decision to reduce fuel prices. We are discussing whether the state would further reduce prices. It was done last time and we are discussing it for this time," Nitish Kumar said.

The Centre on Saturday announced a record excise cut of Rs 8 per litre cut on petrol and a Rs 6 per litre reduction on diesel. The exact cut translated to a reduction of Rs 8.69 a litre on petrol in New Delhi and Rs 7.05 per litre on diesel. 

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 96.72/litre against Rs 105.41 previously. The price of diesel stood at Rs 89.62/litre as opposed to Rs 96.67 earlier. In Mumbai, petrol is now priced at Rs 111.35 a litre from Rs 120.51, while diesel costs Rs 97.28 per litre against Rs 104.77 earlier.

Bihar CM on Lalu Yadav

On recent CBI raids on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, the Bihar CM said that he does not have anything to say on that.

When asked about RJD calling raids political vendetta, Kumar said, "We don't have anything to say on that. Those who did will say. Don't have any information."

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided residence linked to Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in Delhi and Patra in connection with a fresh corruption case.

The latest FIR was lodged by the CBI with regard to a railway recruitment scam. Yadav, who was a railway minister in the UPA government, allegedly took land from aspirants for giving them jobs.