Opposition reacts to Centre's excise duty cut decision, call it 'duping'

Challenging the Finance Minister to roll back excise on petrol and diesel to the level it was under the UPA in May 2014, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed the government had increased the excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 in 60 days and is now "duping" people by reducing it by Rs 9.50.

New Delhi: Reacting to the cut on excise duty on petrol and diesel announced on Saturday, the opposition party Congress accused Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of "befooling'', highlighting that people needed relief instead of a ''jugglery of figures''. Challenging the Finance Minister to roll back excise duty on petrol and diesel to the level it was under the UPA in May 2014, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala claimed the government had increased the excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 in 60 days and is now "duping" people by reducing it by Rs 9.50.

"Dear FM ... in 60 days, you increased the price of petrol by Rs 10 per litre and now reduced it by Rs 9.50/litre. ... U increased the price of Diesel by Rs 10 per litre and now reduced it by Rs 7 per litre. Stop befooling people," Surjewala said in a series of tweets. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also reacted to the decision saying that the true cut will be if the Centre decreases the cess it levies on petrol and diesel that is not shared with the states. He further added that the FM's exhortation to states to reduce taxes is meaningless.

''When she cuts Central Excise by one rupee, 41 paise of that rupee belongs to the States. It means that the Centre has cut 59 paise and the States have cut 41 paise. So, don't point fingers,'' the former Finance Minister said. ''Raise Rs 10 per litre in 2 months and cut Rs 9.50 per litre on petrol and Rs 7 per litre on diesel. This is equal to rob Peter more & pay Peter less!'' Chidambaram added in a tweet.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also gave a sharp reaction, saying that the Centre should stop these pretensions and slash excise duties on petrol-diesel. The Chief Minister said that two months ago, the Central government had increased the excise duty on petrol by Rs 18.42 per litre and on Saturday it has announced to slash it by Rs 8. Similarly, excise duty on diesel had also been increased by Rs 18.24 and now it has been reduced by Rs 6, he added.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also took to Twitter to react to the matter and claimed that the Centre reduced the excise duty under the pressure created by the Congress party's public awareness campaign highlighted in the recently held Chintan Shivir. Congress leader Manickam Tagore also attacked the Finance Minister, accusing her of being "arrogant" and supporting the rich, but not the middle class.

Meanwhile, several ministers and leaders from the BJP, including Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Goa CM Pramod Sawant among others welcomed the move. BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said the Maharashtra government should also bring down the State taxes on petrol and diesel after the Union government offered a major relief. The Narendra Modi government cut excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6 per litre, while it also decided to give Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries for 12 cylinders in a year.