In a sharp riposte to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on the Opposition-ruled States on the fuel prices, the Opposition parties on Wednesday reminded him that the excise duty during the UPA Government was much lower and asked the Prime Minister to roll back the hike. They also accused him of “passing the buck” and playing politics.
“Excise duty during the Congress Government — petrol Rs 9.48/litre and diesel Rs 3.56/litre. Modi Government — petrol Rs 27.90/litre and diesel Rs 21.80/litre. Please roll back the excise hike of Rs 18.42 on petrol and Rs 18.24 per litre on diesel,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.
Demanding that Modi give an account of the Rs 27 lakh crore collected by the BJP Government from tax on petrol and diesel, he said, “Modi ji, no criticism, no distractions, no jumlas! Please give an account of Rs 27,00,00,00,00,00,00 (Rs 27 lakh crore) collected by BJP Govt from tax on petrol & diesel.”
He said on May 26, 2014, when Modi assumed charge, crude oil was USD 108 per barrel, but petrol and diesel were priced at Rs 71.41 and Rs 55.49 per litre, while today, crude oil is USD 100.20 per barrel, but the petrol and diesel prices have been increased to Rs 105.41/litre and Rs 96.67/litre respectively in Delhi.
“We will urge all States to decrease VAT on petrol/diesel to pre-May 2014 level. Please admit BJP Govt earned Rs 27 lakh crore from petrol/diesel while all States collectively received about Rs 16.5 lakh crore. Central Govt revenue from petrol/diesel has doubled in 8 years,” Surjewala said in a series of tweets.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the Centre owed Rs 26,500 crore to the State, after Modi said some States did not reduce VAT on petrol and diesel despite the excise duty cut by the Union Government in November last year.
Uddhav clarified that Centre’s share is 24.38 per cent and the State’s share is Rs 22.37 behind the price of one litre of diesel in Mumbai today.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed the Prime Minister, alleging that he made the “Covid meeting about politics”.
“The Central Government has earned 26 lakh crore out of Central Excise on fuel, increased 18 times even when oil prices hit rock bottom. The GST share to States still owed, compensation component to state done away with and now pointing fingers,” she tweeted.
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Opp accuses PM of passing buck, playing politics over fuel price
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also issued statement after Modi’s remarks on fuel prices saying the discussion was one-sided and that she doesn’t agree with the Prime Minister.
“Today’s interaction with Modi was completely one-sided and misleading. Facts shared by him were wrong. We have been providing a subsidy of Re 1 on every litre of petrol and diesel for the last three years. We’ve spent Rs 1,500 crore on this,” Mamata told reporters at the State secretariat.
She claimed there was no scope for the Chief Ministers to speak at the meeting and hence, they could not counter the Prime Minister’s statement.
“It would have been better had the PM not spoken on fuel price hike in a Covid-19 review meeting, it was his agenda,” she said, iterating her demand for a reduction in fuel prices.
Kerala State Finance Minister K N Balagopal also hit back at the PM saying the increase in petrol and diesel rates was due to the cess and surcharge levied by the Centre.
He said Kerala has not increased taxes on petroleum products in the last six years. When the State Government has not increased taxes on petrol or diesel by even one rupee in the last six years, then how can it be asked to reduce taxes, Balagopal asked.
He further said the reason for rise in fuel prices was not due to increase in State taxes, but the cess and surcharge levied by the Centre on sale of petrol and diesel which amounts to cutting into the state’s share of the revenue from petroleum products.
KT Rama Rao, Telangana Minister and working president of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, took to Twitter to allege that fuel prices had shot up because of the Central Government.
He wrote, “Name-calling States for not reducing VAT even though we never increased it - is this the co-operative federalism you’re talking about Narendra Modi ji? Telangana hasn’t increased VAT on fuel since 2014 and rounded off only once.”
He added, “We don’t get 41 per cent of our rightful share because of the cess imposed by your government. In the form of cess, you are looting 11.4 per cent from the state and we are getting only 29.6 per cent for FY23. Please scrap cess so we can give petrol at Rs 70 and diesel at Rs 60 all over India. One Nation - One Price?”
Spokesperson of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu A Saravanan said fuel prices are sky-high due to the Union Government’s cess.
He said, “Most important aspect is cess doesn’t devolve to the State Government. We make a counter-proposal to the Prime Minister. Please don’t collect cess and make it VAT - at least the price that you take will devolve to the State Governments.
“Yet another aspect is the DMK has not raised these prices. We had reduced petrol prices by Rs 3. Also, the VAT prices were set by the AIADMK. The PM instead of giving gyan should give VAT to the State. There is no accountability on cess. The Union Government has earned Rs 26 lakh crore in last eight years - where has all this gone? The PM is trying to deflect the criticism against him,” he added.