NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday took a swipe at the government over the hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel, with Rahul Gandhi saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally gave a befitting reply to “tariffs”.Gandhi also said people suffering from inflation had been given another gift of “government loot”.The government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre each. The excise duty on petrol was hiked to Rs 13 per litre and that on diesel to Rs 10 a litre.In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Wah, Modi ji, Wah!! International crude oil prices have fallen by 41 per cent compared to May 2014 but your plundering government, instead of reducing the prices of petrol and diesel, has increased the central excise duty by Rs 2 each.””You must not have been satisfied after the small and big investors in the stock market lost Rs 19 lakh crore in one go due to the deep ‘Kumbhakaran-like’ sleep on the tariff policy that your government has come to rub salt into the wounds!” he added.Former Congress chief Gandhi also hit out at the government over the excise duty hike.He said in a post in Hindi on X, “Finally, Modi ji gave a befitting reply to ‘tariffs’! Tax on petrol-diesel and gas cylinder prices were increased further.””People suffering from inflation were given another gift of government loot!” the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha added.While any change in taxes is normally passed on to consumers, there will be no change in the retail selling prices of petrol and diesel as the excise hike will be set off against the reduction in retail prices warranted from the fall in international oil prices.”PSU oil marketing companies have informed that there will be no increase in retail prices of petrol and diesel, subsequent to the increase effected in excise duty rates today,” the oil ministry said in a post on X.International oil prices have slumped to their lowest since April 2021 as escalating trade tensions between the US and China stoked fears of a recession that could cut oil demand.
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