Demanding reduction in petrol and diesel prices, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha said that by increasing the prices despite record drop in global crude oil prices, the BJP Government is working against the interest of people of India.
"We demand the BJP Government to reduce petrol price to Rs 39 per liter and diesel to Rs 31 per liter, as there is a 55 percent decrease in crude oil price in global market," said Chadha
Taking a jibe on the BJP run Union Government, Chadha said that in India , driving a bike is expensive than flying an aeroplane.
Notably, excise duty on diesel has increased from Rs 3.56 per liter to Rs 18.80 per liter and on petrol from Rs 9.40 per liter to Rs 22.90 per liter.
Citing the escalations in oil pricing, the AAP leaders said "In the past few years the BJP-led Central Government has increased the excise rate nearly 12 times, therefore, the price of petrol and diesel has increased exponentially,"
"Today we are at a time when in our economy, the price of aviation fuel is cheaper than that of the per litre price of petrol and diesel.
Today, in Delhi, the price of petrol is Rs 69.87/lit, price of diesel is Rs 62.50/lit and the price of aviation fuel is Rs 56/lit. So today it is cheaper to fly an aeroplane than driving a car," he said, Today, in India the unemployment rate has touched a record low, the economy of India is witnessing an unprecedented slowdown and at this point of time, the Modi Government has also increased the fuel prices and inflation rate."
Adding furthermore, he said that In India, the crude oil price is dependent on the price of crude oil in the global market.
"Today, in the global market the price of crude oil has become the lowest in the last 15 years but under the Modi Government in India, the crude oil price has only increased," he added.
"This Modi Government has not given us the benefit of decreased oil price of the global market. Today we are buying the crude oil in India in the rate of global crude oil price as of November 2004.
Under the BJP regime, the Central Government has increased the excise rate nearly 12 times in the last 6 years and this way they have earned an amount of Rs 16 lakh crore," said Raghav.