Arvind Kejriwal slams Centre's fuel price cut, demands reduction of Rs 10 per litre in petrol, diesel price

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday slammed the Centre's decision of cutting the fuel price by saying that the actual slash should be Rs 10 per litre. 

Kejriwal's comments came hours after the Central government announced a reduction of Rs 2.5 per litre in petrol and diesel prices.

Kejriwal took to Twitter and posted about the increase in excise duty by the Modi-led government.

Kejriwal accused the BJP government of cheating and said that the Central government first raised the excise duty on petrol and now reduced only Rs 2.50. 

"Modi government raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 and today reduced only Rs 2.50. This is cheating. The centre should bring down petrol prices at least by Rs 10," he said in a tweet.

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Responding to Kejriwal's tweet, Delhi's BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said that the Aam Aadmi Party convenor wants to help the Delhi government by reducing the fuel prices by Rs 10 a litre.

"It means @ArvindKejriwal Ji wish to help Delhi by reducing Rs.10 per litre on petrol and diesel, nice gesture!! Thanks kejriwal Ji," Tiwari tweeted.

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The Central government announced a Rs 2.50 a litre cut in petrol and diesel prices, factoring in excise duty reduction of Rs 1.50 per litre and asking oil companies to absorb another Re 1.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked state governments to follow suit by cutting sales tax or VAT by a similar amount. The reduction followed petrol and diesel prices touching new highs.

Tiwari demanded the Delhi government cut VAT on petrol and diesel by Rs 2.50 per litre so that the people of Delhi may also get relief of Rs 5 per litre on the fuels as was done by governments in BJP-ruled states.

BJP's leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta said the Delhi government owed "much more" to Delhiites and demanded it reduce the petrol price by Rs 10.50 and diesel price by Rs 7.92 per litre.

"Union Finance Minister asking state Governments to reduce price by Rs 2.50 is not applicable to Delhi. Kejriwal government is pocketing arbitrarily increased 12 per cent VAT on petrol and 10.5 per cent VAT on diesel," Gupta charged.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj charged that the Centre is "fooling" people.

"For four years, the prices of petrol and diesel were increased and now the Centre is fooling people by decreasing it by Rs 2.50 per litre," he said.

This is an attempt of providing "fake relief" to the people in view of "dipping popularity" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and coming assembly elections in three states, Bhardwaj alleged.

In a similar attack at the government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banjeree also asked the Centre government to reduce the fuel prices to Rs 10 a litre. 

Speaking at a programme in Siliguri, Banerjee said that the cess on petroleum products should also be withdrawn."

The central government should slash fuel prices by Rs 10 at least. This government at the Centre is not bothered about the well-being of the masses... They are only interested about their party (BJP)," Banerjee, whose government had last month slashed petrol and diesel prices by Re 1 per litre, said. 

Following the central government's footsteps, key BJP ruled states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have announced an additional cut of Rs 2.50 per litre on petrol and diesel bringing the effect reduction to Rs 5 per litre on fuel prices.

(With PTI Inputs)