NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the Centre, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday questioned high fuel prices even when global crude oil rates had returned to the pre-West Asia war levels. He accused the BJP of “looting” and “pickpocketing” people, and alleged that the public has become just a means for the BJP to extract taxes and raise its collections.
Posing a set of three questions to the Government, the Congress chief said that during the peak of the war in West Asia, crude oil was at $138 per barrel. Back then, petrol was `94.77 a litre and diesel `87.67 a litre, he said, adding that at present, crude oil has fallen to $70.71 per barrel. “So why is the Modi government still selling petrol at `102.12 a litre and diesel at Rs 95.20 a litre?” he said in a post on X.
Domestic cylinders, the 5-kg small cylinders useful for migrants, and CNG—everything has been jacked up, he wrote. “Now that conditions are normal, why are the Modi government’s hands trembling when it comes to cutting the prices,” Kharge further asked.
The Congress chief said when crude oil was expensive, the public suffered. Now that crude oil is cheap, why is it still that the public is bearing the brunt, he asked. “It’s obvious – the public has become just a means for the BJP to extract taxes and raise its collections,” he said.
The Congress has been accusing the NDA government of not reducing oil prices after they have come down globally. The opposition party has also accused the BJP of “looting” the public through higher taxes on petrol, diesel and LPG.