Petrol price can be cut by Rs 25 per litre, says Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader Chidambaram on Wednesday claimed that the government can reduce the price of petrol by as much as Rs 25 a litre.

The former finance minister took to Twitter to outline how the central government is walking away with Rs 25 from every litre of fuel sold in the country.

"Central government saves Rs 15 on every litre of petrol due to fall in crude oil prices. Central government puts an additional tax of Rs 10 on every litre of petrol. Bonanza to central government is Rs 25 on every litre of petrol. This money rightfully belongs to the average consumer," he wrote in a series of tweets.

"It is possible to cut upto Rs 25 per litre, but the government will not. They will cheat the people by cutting price by Rs 1 or 2 per litre of petrol. "

The petrol and diesel price are at a record high and in cities like Mumbai, it was selling at Rs 84.07 per litre on Monday.

The Opposition hit out at the Modi government for a steep hike in recent days and alleged that oil companies were forced to keep the prices "artificially static" for the Karnataka elections and are now recovering from the consumers.

Oil companies, however, denied this charge. "There was no directive from the government as far as the retail price is concerned,"Indian Oil Corporation Chairman Sanjeev Singh said during a press conference on Tuesday.

"The government has given us the freedom to revise prices daily. We are following that formula. We took a call [in those 19 days]... we believed that the trends that were happening were not supported by fundamentals," he said.