Rahul Gandhi takes up LPG prices as Congress govts criticised for not cutting fuel rates

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the Central Government over the rising prices of LPG cylinders by claiming that PM Modi's "development vehicle is in reverse gear". Gandhi's tweet in Hindi reads "Far away from the words of development, Millions of families were forced to light the wooden stove. Modi Ji's development vehicle is in reverse gear and brakes also fail.” The petroleum companies hiked the price of domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 15 on October 6 and hiked the price of commercial LPG cylinders by Rs 266 on November 1. The resulting price of the non-subsidised 14.2 kg domestic cylinder in Delhi costs Rs 899.50 and the price of 5 kg domestic cylinder costs Rs 502.

Rahul Gandhi slams the government over fuel rates as well

Earlier this week, Rahul Gandhi also targeted the Centre over the surging fuel prices and warned his Twitter followers that they should be beware of "pickpockets". He tweeted saying, “Beware of pickpockets," and used the hashtag "#TaxExtortion". He added in the same tweet that the petrol prices in some states have crossed Rs 120 per litre and that the Centre accumulated more than Rs 2.3 lakh crore in 2018-19 and Rs 2.58 lakh crore in 2017-18 through fuel taxes.

However, there has been some relief to fuel consumers across the nation as there has been a significant reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel by the Centre. According to the announcement made on Wednesday, the prices of petrol and diesel were reduced by Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 respectively from Thursday. Apart from the price reduction, 22 states and two union territories reduced the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel prices. However, another 14 states and 6 UTs have not announced the same, while Kerala has announced that they cannot afford to reduce the VAT. After a mammoth jump in the prices for over a week, fuel prices remained constant on Wednesday. The prices were last hiked on November 2, as fuel rates in Delhi soared to Rs. 110.04 per litre for Petrol. However, the rates were cut and the new price was Rs. 98.42 per litre. On the same day, there was another hike and the price stood at Rs.103.97 per litre.

Notably, after the Centre brought down excise duty on petrol and diesel, 23 States/Union Territories (UT) also reduced the Value Added Tax on fuel to lessen the burden. However, there are 13 States/UTs which have not reduced VAT in Petrol and Diesel. These include Andhra Pradesh along with Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Andaman and Nicobar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Punjab, and Rajasthan.  

(with ANI inputs)