Even as BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said that the issue of gas pricing needed to be revisited by the next government that comes to power at the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday again questioned the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi’s stand on the gas pricing policy.
Dismissing Gujarat government's rebuttal on its charges relating to development issues, the AAP released a letter purported to have been written by the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation in April, 2013 to the Union Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recommending a gas pricing formula which would put the gas rate beyond $ 14 per mmbtu as against the decision of the UPA government to revise it to $ 8.4 per mmbtu (million metric British thermal units) from April 1. The AAP has strongly opposed the decision and the new rates.
Reacting to the controversy in Network 18 Google hangout interaction, Mr. Jaitley, however, made it clear that “'the new government will be guided by the considerations of there being a transparent policy, the industry being able to recover its cost plus some return on investment,” but added, that consumers interest would be kept in mind.
On Mr. Modi's position on FDI in multi-brand retail, the AAP said that his view was contrary his party's. “This became obvious during a traders meeting in Delhi, when Mr. Modi asked them why they were scared of international competition,” the party said in a statement here.
Rebutting the charge that AAP was “soft” on the Congress, the party claimed that it was the first to focus the nation's attention on Robert Vadra’s land deals. “Even though BJP leader Arun Jaitley had the papers and the evidence with him for over a year, he did not go public with them. Was it because the BJP and the Congress had a tacit understanding?” the party asked.
