BJP and NDA ruled states may reduce taxes on petrol and diesel

New Delhi, Jun 5 (UNI) Questioning the moral authority of the Congress in asking the states to reduce taxes after dubbing them as 'hoarders and black marketeers', the BJP today indicated that its BJP party-ruled states would make efforts to reduce taxes imposed by the states to offset the burden imposed by the Centre.

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the party found no rationale behind her statement especially the way the UPA Government at the Centre was ill-treating Ms Gandhi's the non-Congress states in devolving funds.

However, considering the gravity of the situation and the unprecedented assault on the people by hiking the prices for the eighth time in four years, BJP president Rajnath Singh had spoken to the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka to do everything in their powers to reduce state taxes and help the common man and take whatever measures were required. He had also issued similar appeals to the Chief Ministers of the NDA-ruled states like Bihar and Orissa. "We (BJP) have acted in the interest of common man notwithstanding the continuous assault launched by the Congress," Mr Rudy said.

He said the reports received by the party had shown that the BJP had taken leadership in organising district level protests against the hike on petroleum products and their submitted memoranda to their respective Distict Magistrates.

He said Mrs Gandhi's appeal lacked credibility and concern for the common man. The Centre suffered from major policy lapse and had made no efforts to rationalise the tax structure. Unless a move was there to reduce taxes as done during the NDA regime in April 2002, the inflationary trend would fuel the inflation to much higher levels, he said. Unless the measures taken were reflected in the budget, it would be difficult to believe the claims of the government, he said.

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