BJP demands rollback of petroleum price hike

New Delhi, June 6 (UNI) Demanding an immediate rollback of the ''unjustified'' hike in the prices of petrol and diesel, the BJP today said the party would launch a week-long nationwide agitation against the additional ''burden on the common massses''.

BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the increase could have been absorbed by the government because the excise, customs and sales tax component formed nearly 60 per cent of the cost of the petroleum produce. ''The government had looted the people of Rs 1,26,000 crore by way of taxes.'' He said the hike was the seventh price increase effected by the UPA after it assumed power. The subsidy component of the petroleum products which was at Rs 11,300 crore during the NDA regime had now dwindled down to a mere Rs 3,000 crore, he claimed.

''It was a joke that the Congress was asking the government to reform the price increase. The left parties were firmly with the government but were pretending to be with the people by asking the government to roll back the prices,'' he added.

Mr Javadekar said there were instant and spontaneous protests against the hike by BJP workers in several states and for one week from tomorrow the party would stage protests against the price hike in district headquarters, state capitals and Delhi.

He said the highest sales tax in the country was imposed by the UPA-ruled states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Asked if the BJP-ruled state governments would provide relief to the people by way of reducing taxes, Mr Javadekar said it was a central subject and a decision would have to be taken at the Central level and implemented uniformly across the country.

UNI MCN RR VV1733