By IANS ,
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday lashed out at the government over the recent hike in diesel and cooking gas prices and threatened to raise the issue in the monsoon session of parliament.
“We will raise the issue in parliament,” senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters here.
He said the government was hiking the fuel prices to maintain its growth figures at the cost of the common man’s budget.
“In order to keep up your economic health, you are worsening the economic health of the aam aadmi,” the BJP leader said, adding the government had failed to manage its fiscal deficit and was now putting the burden on the common man.
He said the government should not use the petroleum sector to adjust its budget the way it has been doing since it came to power in 2004.
Joshi refused to buy the government’s argument that fuel prices were hiked because international rates of crude had gone up, due to which petroleum companies were suffering losses and the fuel subsidy was getting burdened.
“The justification is wrong because the government gets Rs.1.35 lakh crore tax from the petroleum sector, of which Rs.4,430 crore is given as subsidy. Of this, the states’ share is Rs.55,000 crore. The government still saves Rs.44,000 crore.
“The subsidy burden is off the mark,” he said.
He said the opposition would ask the government to have a “transparent and rationalised” fuel price policy so that “people are not kept in dark”.
The BJP leader said the government’s economic policy was “flawed” and “only attends to the needs of corporate houses”.
“This government does not care about the aam aadmi,” he said.
“With this kind of increase, there will be a cascading effect on inflation. Cost of manufacturing goes up, agricultural costs go up, production goes down and inflation is up,” the BJP leader said.
He said the BJP ruled states have been asked to discuss the issue with the central government on how to tackle the fuel price hike.
Asked if the BJP ruled states would cut the cess on cooking gas the way West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had done, he said, “I am not committing (for state governments).”