Taxes on fuel meant to help govt.’s ‘friends’: Rahul Gandhi

Cong. leader cites Minister’s reply in LS on surge in revenues

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his election campaign for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, at Church Road in Kanyakumari district, Monday, March 1, 2021.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that the Narendra Modi government is resorting to “indiscriminate taxation” on petrol-diesel-liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) so that it can waive off the loans of its “friends”.

“By collecting indiscriminate taxes on petrol-diesel-LPG from the common public, it is waiving off taxes and loans of its friends. The truth is clear,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted on a day when Opposition MPs protested in both the Houses of Parliament over high fuel prices.

Mr. Gandhi also tagged a news report of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s written replies in Lok Sabha on Monday in which he stated the rise in price of LPG has doubled in the past six years.

In reply to a written question, Mr. Pradhan said the retail selling price of the domestic LPG 14.2-kg cylinder was ₹410.5 per on March 1, 2014 and it has gone up to ₹819 this month.

While the price of cooking gas has doubled in the past seven years, the increase in taxes on petrol and diesel has swelled collections by over 459%, the Minister informed Parliament.

He said tax collected on the two fuels was ₹52,537 crore in 2013, which rose to ₹2.13 lakh crore in 2019-20 and swelled further to ₹2.94 lakh crore in the first 11 months of current fiscal year.