Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Credit: PTI
Mumbai: India will continue buying oil from wherever it gets the best rates, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, amid US objections to Indian purchases of Russian crude and President Donald Trump’s imposition of additional tariffs on New Delhi, alongside a hike in H-1B visa fees.
The opposition has also taken a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the ongoing India-US tariff standoff.
“Not specifically Russian oil, but India will continue buying oil from wherever we get the best rates,” Shah, the BJP’s chief strategist, said in Mumbai during an interactive session hosted by a newspaper group.
He added that Indo-US trade negotiations are ongoing and Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is currently in the US. “You all know, India-US trade negotiations are underway… we can expect a decision in a couple of weeks… things will be clear for everyone to see,” Shah said.
The Home Minister’s statement comes a day after US Energy Secretary Chris Wright argued that buying Russian crude indirectly funds atrocities in Ukraine.
“We don’t want to punish India. You can buy oil from every nation on earth, just not Russian oil. That’s our position. America has oil to sell, so does everybody else,” Wright said at the New York Foreign Press Centre.
Shah also took a dig at the Congress-led UPA government headed by late Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while discussing GST 2.0.
“Many from Rahul Gandhi’s party claim GST was their idea. Then why was it not implemented? They say the states opposed it. Their government could not give states a guarantee of growth. The Modi government came in and guaranteed a 14% growth to states,” he said.