AIADMK, BJP blame UPA’s policy for hike

“It was the Congress government that transferred the power of determining the fuel price to the petroleum companies. Since then, the price of the fuel have skyrocketed,” Thambidurai told reporters. 

He also said that the DMK is playing double role in the ‘Bharat Bandh’. “DMK had expressed support for Congress in the bandh but is desperate in getting into ties with BJP by not protesting against the Centre. If the bandh was directed against the state government, DMK would have staged rail roko and would have caused law and order problems. However, that did not happen and this indicates that DMK is playing safe on the coalition,” said Thambidurai. 

He further said that AIADMK wants the fuel prices reduced but will not support the bandh called by the opposition parties. The Centre should once again take back the role of fixing the fuel prices on their own, said Thambidurai. However, he opposed the Centre’s idea of bringing fuel under GST. “State has limited resources and if fuel is brought into the ambit of GST, the state will not have resources to implement welfare measures,” he said. 

BJP too launched a similar attack on Congress. Tamilisai said that the policies followed by Congress were not futuristic and that resulted in the price hike. “The previous Congress-led central government had borrowed a huge amount resulting in a huge debt for the present government. Thereafter, there was no option for the Centre besides hiking the fuel price,” she said.

She also said that there is no second thought for BJP in reduction of prices of essential commodities but for that reason opposition parties have no moral right to protest the hike. The current price hike is governed by various factors such as status of Indian currency vis-à-vis international currencies. 

She further said that the state government can also reduce the taxes levied in fuel and can reduce the price. “45 per cent of tax revenue from the fuel goes to the State and only 25 per cent goes to the Centre,” said Tamilisai.