BJP's conditional offer to reduce taxes

Bhopal, July 1 (UNI) Holding the UPA Government responsible for the spiralling prices, BJP President Rajnath Singh today said the BJP-ruled states would consider reducing taxes on petroleum products provided the Centre took an initiative to curb taxes at its level.

''The spiralling prices due to the Centre's faulty policies has added to the miseries of the common man,'' Mr Singh, who arrived to take part in the state BJP executive meeting, told mediapersons here.

Saying that Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi had no moral right to ask the states to reduce taxes, he said if she was sincere, she should have taken effective steps when the Rangarajan Committee looked into the issue.

''It was an irony that the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister didn't heed to the UPA Chairperson's request to reduce prices,'' the BJP leader said.

He also blamed the Left parties for double talk saying that Leftists kept mum when the price issue was debated in Parliament while they were protesting on the streets on the same issue.

Pointing out that the Centre had imposed 56 per cent taxes on petroleum products, Mr Singh said if the Centre reduced the taxes to 20-25 per cent, then the BJP ruled states will also consider reducing the taxes.

He claimed that price level was under check during the NDA rule.

The custom duty on petrol which remained at 11 per cent till 2005 was raised 13 per cent during the UPA regime, while duty on diesel was raised from Rs 1.25 to Rs 3.75.

He suggested that speculative trading at the National Commodity Exchange should be stopped in order to check price rise. Along with this, black-marketing and profiteering should be controlled.

Mr Singh parried a question on the role of the BJP governments in containing price rise saying it all depended on the policies of the Centre.

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