Jagan govt looting people left and right: Congress

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Friday lambasted the State government led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for looting people left and right in the name of VAT on petrol and diesel.

In a statement released from Andhra Ratna Bhavan, the party headquarters here on Friday, APCC president S Sailajanath said that the Congress would highlight the exploitation of people by the State government.

Exhorting people to wake up to put an end to the exploitation, the PCC president said that the UPA government never increased the prices of fuel in the larger interest of people.

He called upon the State government to immediately lower the prices of fuels including LPG in view of the decrease in prices of the same in the States all over the country.

The PCC chief slammed the BJP government at the Centre for eyewash of lowering the prices nominally at the rate of Rs 5 on petrol and Rs 10 on diesel whereas it had increased very recently Rs 36 on petrol and Rs 25 on diesel.

Though the crude oil price was 98 dollars per barrel in 2012-13, the petrol and diesel price were kept at Rs 70 and Rs 53 respectively, he recalled. Now the crude oil price is 47 dollars, he pointed out.

The PCC president said that the NDA government was systematically destroying all the systems but increasing the prices. He demanded immediate rollback of the fuel prices.

Dr Sailajanath said that the prices of essential commodities were also going up consequent to the price hike of fuels. If such inflation continues for some more time it would adversely affect the economy. Moreover, the price hike of fuels is affecting the industry and agriculture too.

Since the Central government reduced the excise on fuels, the State government should also react positively to lower the VAT on fuels. The Congress would not remain a silent spectator and launch a massive agitation against the price hike, he warned.