New Delhi, Apr 3 (DHNS): The Congress on Monday slammed the Modi government for its "failure" to curtail the prices of petrol and diesel, that have ruled at an all-time high since May 2014.
"Crude oil price has fallen from USD 108 in May 2014 to USD 77 in April 2018. Then, why are petrol and diesel prices today higher than in May 2014," senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram asked.
He hit out at the Modi government for indulging in "cruel taxation and imprudent borrowing".
"Thank god this is the last year of the present government," Chidambaram said.
Unfazed by the criticism, the Centre ruled out any revision in the prices of petrol and diesel that were retailing at Rs 73.86 and Rs 64.72 a litre respectively in Delhi.
"Not as of now," Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told reporters when asked if a price review was on the way.
Congress alleged that the Modi government had betrayed the trust that the common man had bestowed on it.
"It has miserably failed to curtail the rise in fuel prices and is busy filling the treasury coffers at the expense of ordinary citizens," Randeep Singh Surjewala, AICC Communications Department in-charge, said.
Govt got windfall
Surjewala said that the BJP government had earned a "windfall" of Rs 7.35 lakh crore by levying various central taxes on petroleum products till the second quarter of fiscal year 2018.
"Where has the money gone? Instead of passing on the benefit to ordinary citizens, they got brutally taxed by the BJP," he said.