Reduce tax on petroleum products: Cong to party-ruled states

Hailing the decision of the Centre to reduce custom and excise duty on the petroleum products as a "step for giving relief" to common man, party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi appealed to states to announce similar measures to give a reprieve to people.

"The Centre has tried to give relief by reducing the custom duty. Likewise all state governments can reduce their taxes according to their financial capacity. As far as Congress-ruled states are concerned, we are asking them to do it as far as possible," Dwivedi told reporters.

Senior party leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that some announcements in this regard are likely tonight by Congress-ruled states.

Talking to reporters at the AICC, Dwivedi, at the same time justified the government's decision to hike fuel prices citing compulsions and dismissed BJP's criticism on the issue, reminding that prices of oil were increased many times during the NDA rule.

He also cited examples of other countries in the region where the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene are much higher than in India.

"There are times when you are compelled to take hard decisions. There is no doubt that when the prices of diesel go up, everybody feels the pinch. But if you see all the facts you will realize that there was no other option," Dwivedi told reporters here.