KTR slams Centre over high fuel prices

Hyderabad: BRS working president and minister K.T.Rama Rao slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre for the sharp increase in fuel prices, accusing it of "looting" people while also calling for an apology from the Narendra Modi government to the country.

In a letter to the Centre on Thursday, Rama Rao accused the BJP government of imposing a financially unsustainable burden on the people by raising fuel prices under the guise of climbing international crude oil prices, and said that the Union government's "deceit has been exposed”. " In 2013, when a barrel of crude oil was $110, the price of petrol in India was Rs 76 per litre, and when the price of crude oil had dropped to $66 the price of petrol climbed to Rs 110,” Rama Rao remarked.

He claimed that the Modi government was fleecing the poor and middle classes by increasing fuel prices to benefit a few corporates. "Due to the 45% hike in fuel prices since 2014, all the essential commodities became costlier," the minister said.

Further, Rama Rao claimed that the state governments were compelled to hike public transportation charges due to the spike in diesel prices, and the public transportation system was on the verge of collapse due to the Central government’s policies.

The prices of essential commodities are spiralling upward due to the steadily rising fuel prices. The inflation is at a 45-year high due to the failures of the Union government," he added.

The minister questioned why, despite the Centre's grandiose claims, the benefit of importing crude oil from Russia at a lower price was not passed on to the public and why only two oil firms were making enormous profits. "The Union government is importing crude oil at lower prices from Russia, refining it, and selling the refined fuel to other countries. They are hiding this critical information from the public," he remarked. He added that the Centre also reduced windfall tax on fuel to benefit some corporate companies.

On Union Cabinet ministers remarks that bringing fuel under the purview of GST would reduce prices, he stated, "The LPG cylinder price, which is under GST, has been hiked from Rs.
400 to Rs 1,200, making it the costliest LPG cylinder in the world."

He questioned why the 'inefficient' central government couldn't control the price of LPG though it was under GST. The minister stated that the Central government conspired to stop the discussion in the Parliament on the price rise, and that the public was aware of this. "Rejecting the BJP is the only way to stop the looting of the central government and to reduce the fuel prices," he remarked.