Congress leader Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at PM Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over petrol price hike

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday (March 15) slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the recent hike in prices of petrol and diesel despite a significant fall in oil prices in the global market.

Taking a jibe at the Centre, the former Congress president said his advice to pass on the benefits of global fall of oil prices had been totally ignored by the government.

"Just 3 days ago I had requested PMO India to pass on the benefit of the global oil price crash to Indian consumers, by slashing the prices of petrol and diesel in India. Instead of heeding this advice, our genius has gone and hiked excise duty on fuel!" Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Just 3 days ago I had requested @PMOIndia to pass on the benefit of the global oil price crash to Indian consumers, by slashing the prices of petrol & diesel in India. Instead of heeding this advice, our genius has gone and hiked #exciseduty on fuel! pic.twitter.com/lGEQosS9JE

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 15, 2020

The Congress leader also attached a video in which Sitharaman is seen allegedly avoiding a question from a reporter over the fall in global oil prices.

On Saturday (March 14), the excise duty on petrol and diesel was on Saturday hiked by Rs 3 per litre as the government looked to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices.

Special excise duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 2 to Rs 8 per litre in case of petrol and to Rs 4 in case of diesel, an official notification said. Additionally, road cess on petrol was raised by Rs 1 per litre each on petrol and diesel to Rs 10.

The increase in excise duty would in normal course result in a hike in petrol and diesel prices but most of it would be adjusted against the fall in rates that would have necessitated because of the slump in international oil prices.