The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Centre warned against hiking petro prices

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 01, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Centre warned against hiking petro prices

VIJAYAWADA: Communist Party of India (CPI)’s Rajya Sabha member D. Raja has warned the Centre against any attempt to increase the retail sale of petrol and diesel, saying the Centre was trying to burden people rather than increase the corporate tax on firms like Essar and Reliance.

Addressing a meeting here on Saturday, Mr. Raja said that the Manmohan Singh Government was trying to shield these companies by maintaining that they were suffering from capital scarcity and, hence, it was necessary to increase tax component on diesel to 32 per cent and on petrol to 52 per cent. The people of the country were already suffering because of the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, and any hike on petro products would cripple them further. If the Centre still went ahead with the decision, the Left parties knew what to do, he cautioned.

Mr. Raja wanted the Congress-led UPA Government to “learn lessons from the Karnataka verdict” and the “dangerous consequences of communal forces gaining ground’. “The BJP’s victory in Karnataka is a warning to secular and democratic forces. The Congress must introspect, as its failures have led to the BJP’s rise in several States. In fact, this can threaten the very existence of the Congress,” he said.

The CPI leader said that the Left parties would be launching a nation wide agitation on June 6.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh