Gujarat Congress slams Centre, state for GDP crisis

In a bid to step up pressure on the central and the state governments to take steps to curb rising fuel prices, the Opposition Congress held state-wide protests on Thursday.

The Opposition party accused the BJP governments at the state and centre for profiteering, and held in responsible for the GDP (gas, diesel and petrol) crisis, blaming high rate of taxation for the high prices.

"When the global fuel prices were down, the central government had hiked excise duty on fuel nine times between November 2014 and January 2016. It is collecting excise duty of Rs11.77 per litre on petrol and Rs13.47 on diesel. Because of high levies, fuel prices are at record highs even though crude prices are sharply lower than in 2014," Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi, said. The Congress leader also said that the state government charges 20% VAT and 4% Cess on the two fuels, and demanded reduction in the tax rate for providing relief to citizens.

In Bharuch, Congress workers held protests demanding relief from high fuel prices. In Junagadh, they took to travelling on a camel cart. In Kutch, Congress workers took out a cycle rally and blocked traffic in Rajkot. The party took out rallies and protest marches in Surat, Tapi and other places.