- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday attacked the Modi government, stating that the benefit of reduced international crude prices has not been passed on to consumers and excise duty has now been hiked on petrol and diesel.
Kharge in a post on X, wrote that the hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel came on a day small and big Indian investors lost Rs 19 lakh crore in the stock market. He accused the government of “sleeping like Kumbkarn” on the issue of US tariffs.
“Wah Modi ji wah!! Compared to May 2014, the international crude oil price has dropped by 41 per cent, but instead of reducing petrol-diesel prices, your government has increased the Central Excise Duty by Rs 2 each,” he said.
“The Kumbhakarna-like sleep on tariff policy led to a sudden wipeout of Rs 19 lakh crore for small and big investors in the stock market, which probably didn’t give you peace, so your government is rubbing salt on the wound!” he added.
The central government has raised the excise duties on diesel and petrol each by Rs 2 per litre, effective from Tuesday, according to a notification from the Department of Revenue.
Currently, the government charges an excise duty of Rs 19.90 per litre on petrol. From Tuesday, it is going to be increased to Rs 21.90 a litre.
Similarly, the current excise duty on diesel is Rs 15.80 per litre, and it will increase to Rs 17.80 per litre effective Tuesday.
