BENGALURU/KALABURAGI: People affected by the soaring prices of petrol and diesel got some relief after the State government decided to slash the Sales Tax on petrol and diesel, on Monday. Following the announcement by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, petrol and diesel prices will be cheaper by `2 from Tuesday. JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda took to Twitter, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘evaluate options on the table’ to reduce fuel prices in the country.
BJP State president B S Yeddyurappa, however, said that the decision by the State government was misleading as it had increased sales tax on petrol and diesel recently.
The decision comes at a time when State government’s coalition partner Congress has been urging Kumaraswamy to reduce the prices as the party is making it a poll issue to corner BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. As a result, the State government has decided to decrease the sales tax on petrol by 3.25 per cent and diesel by 3.27 per cent. Currently, sales tax on petrol and diesel is 32 per cent and 21 per cent respectively. However, the “government will review the revision in tax rates, if there is a reduction of prices of petrol and diesel in the future.”
Kumaraswamy, who announced the same at a press conference in Kalaburagi, trained his guns at the Central government for not doing anything to minimise the burden on the people. Some states in the country have reduced cess on petrol and diesel. People of the State have also been seeking some relief from the daily increase in prices, following which the State government took the decision, he said.
Kumaraswamy, who was speaking after participating in Hyderabad-Karnataka Liberation Day, said that the reduction in fuel prices was a gift to the people of the State.
Tax cuts
The State governmenthad increased sales tax on petrol and diesel while presenting the maiden budget of the coalition government on July 5 this year. With Monday’s announcement, sales tax on petrol and diesel will be 28.75 per cent and 17.73 per cent respectively. With this, the prices for both petrol and diesel will be the cheapest among South Indian states, according to State government.
Reactions
Yeddyurappa said, “In the budget, Kumaraswamy had increased petrol and diesel prices by `1.56 per litre and has now reduced it by `2. The benefit availed is only 44 paise per litre.” DyCM G Parameshwara tweeted, “In a landmark move to reduce the burden of rising fuel prices on the people of #Karnataka, our coalition government has slashed the cess on petrol and diesel by `2.”