‘Crores of Indians suffering in silence’: BRS working president KT Rama Rao demands rollback of fuel, LPG price hike
Calls move cruel assault on common man and betrayal of public trust, says Central government bleeding people's pockets dry
Hyderabad: Strongly opposing the Centre’s decision to hike the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinder, BRS working president KT Rama Rao demanded an immediate rollback of the price hikes, calling them a cruel assault on the common man and betrayal of public trust. He stated that the Centre was forcing crores of Indians to suffer in silence and bleeding their pockets dry.
He also placed four other demands — reduction of Central excise duties and removal of cesses, transparent fuel pricing linked to global crude rates, white paper on fuel taxation and revenue sharing, and return to genuine cooperative federalism.
“As the BRS working president and a representative of the people of Telangana, I cannot remain a mute spectator while the union government heartlessly inflicts economic pain on the citizens of this nation,” he said.
In a strongly worded letter to Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Rama Rao said the Centre’s fuel pricing policies were exploitative and fiscally unjust. He pointed out that India stands as one of the most expensive countries in the world for petrol, diesel and LPG, which are cheaper in Bhutan, Pakistan, and even economically battered Sri Lanka.
“Crude oil prices have fallen by 41 per cent since 2014, yet instead of relief, the public faces relentless taxation,” he wrote.
He said over 50 per cent of what Indians pay at the petrol pump stations goes directly into the Central government’s coffers. He slammed the Centre’s move to shift excise duties to unshareable cesses, charging it with deliberately denying the States their rightful share.
“This is not cooperative federalism, but financial strangulation,” he said, adding that States such as Telangana are being systematically starved of resources.
Criticising the latest Rs 50 hike in LPG prices, the BRS working president termed the Union Minister’s remarks that India offers the world’s cheapest cooking gas, as a crude joke. He said Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries are forced back to firewood, while poor families must now choose between gas and groceries; with the middle-class drowning in EMIs and fuel bills.
He said the BJP promised ‘Minimum Government-Maximum Governance’, but was delivering ‘Maximum Taxation-Minimum Relief’.
“The poor are gasping, the middle-class is exhausted, the youth are disillusioned and States are financially strangled. It is time for the Central government to stop hiding behind slogans and deliver on its promises, as the public is running out of patience. India deserves better,” he declared.
