Fuel price reduction is eyewash: Alagiri

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K S Alagiri on Monday called the fuel price reduction implemented by the union government, an eyewash and said the flawed policy of the BJP-led union government was responsible for the unprecedented hike in petrol and diesel price in the country.

Referring to the consumer price index (CPI) inflation, which reached a 95-month high of 7.79%, and food inflation at 8.38% in the country, Alagiri said that unable to control the steep rise in the price of all commodities, the BJP regime has reduced petrol and diesel price for the sake of it.

Quoting economists as saying that the retail inflation would only reduce by 0.15% owing to the fuel price reduction announced by the union government, the TNCC chief said that the fuel price hike implemented by the union government was hogwash.

Remarking that the fuel price hike implemented by the Centre would not offer a great benefit to the people, Alagiri said that the inflation could be checked only if petrol and diesel prices were slashed a great deal, which the union finance minister has not realized. It is not acceptable that the union finance minister has blamed the states without realizing it, he said, adding that no one can dispute that the unprecedented fuel price hike was due to the flawed economic policies of the BJP led Centre.

Claiming that the BJP regime has hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 26.77 and Rs 31.47 per liter of petrol and diesel, respectively, in 12 installments, but the government has only reduced it by Rs 14.50 and Rs 21 per litre of diesel so far, the TNCC chief said that union government has netted Rs 8 lakh crore through excise duty on petrol and diesel during the last three years when the people were suffering job loss and unemployment during the covid period.

Pointing out that the union government has netted Rs 3.71 lakh crore in 2020-21 alone, Alagiri said that union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was shunning her responsibility by asking states to cut down VAT to reduce fuel prices.