The BJP on Thursday sought to defend Prime Minister Narendra Modi after several Opposition chief ministers castigated his nudge to them, at a videoconference held on Wednesday to review the Covid situation, to reduce value-added tax on fuel.
Union petroleum minister Hardip Singh Puri posted a series of tweets blaming Opposition-ruled states for not just high petrol prices but also costly flight tickets, and making a bizarre reference to “imported liquor”.
“Petrol will be cheaper if opposition ruled states cut taxes on fuel instead of imported liquor!” Puri tweeted.
“Maharashtra govt imposes Rs 32.15/litre on petrol and Congress-ruled Rajasthan Rs 29.10. But BJP-ruled Uttarakhand levies only Rs 14.51 and Uttar Pradesh Rs 16.50. Protests cannot challenge facts!”
Puri, the only prominent minister to bat on Modi’s behalf, added: “Ever wondered why air ticket prices haven’t come down? Aviation Turbine Fuel constitutes about 40% of the cost of airline operations. But West Bengal, Maharashtra & Delhi impose massive 25%+ on ATF while BJP states UP & Nagaland & UT of J&K charge just 1%.”
On Wednesday, after the videoconference where chief ministers were not allowed to speak, several Opposition heads of government had criticised Modi’s suggestion to non-BJP states to cut VAT on fuel.
Mamata Banerjee had said that if the Centre cleared even half of Bengal’s Rs 97,000-crore dues, she would grant an additional Rs 3,000-crore subsidy on fuel prices. She had suggested that Modi should not have used a Covid meeting to talk fuel taxes, and alleged that BJP-ruled states could cut fuel taxes because the Centre compensated them in other ways.
Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who had skipped the videoconference citing preoccupation with the foundation day of his party TRS, called the meeting a “drama conference”.
“It is a drama conference in which (Modi made) chief ministers sit for three-four hours and (did) not listen to what they (had to) say,” he said as the BJP attacked him for giving the “important meeting” a miss.
“He (Modi) should feel ashamed. He says don’t put burden on people.... Why can’t the Centre cut taxes instead of asking states? The Centre has not only enhanced taxes, it also collects cess. If you have the guts, explain,” Rao added.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office issued a statement on Wednesday evening citing figures to challenge the claim that state taxes were the main reason for the fuel price hike.
The BJP’s official Twitter handle @BJPIndia posted tweets to list the steps taken by the Centre and BJP-ruled states to reduce fuel prices and flagged how the prices were high in non-BJP states.
Most ministers, apart from Puri, confined themselves to tweeting what the BJP handle had put out.
Puri, who began tweeting in the morning, posted tweets again in the afternoon, particularly targeting Telangana.
“The curious case of Telangana. Imposed one of the highest VAT on petrol & diesel — 35.20% on petrol & 27% on diesel,” Puri said, citing the “huge” revenue collected by the state and asking “where has it gone?”
The BJP has been striving to emerge as the principal challenger to the TRS in Telangana as part of its efforts to widen its footprint in the south.
