Jaipur, Nov 6 (IANS): Rajasthan BJP President Satish Poonia on Saturday demanded that the

Ashok Gehlot government reduce VAT on petrol and diesel in the state, which is highest in the country.

Addressing the media in Jaipur, he hailed the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for reducing the excise duty on diesel-petrol saying it has brought a lot of relief to the common man and traders.

Now, it is Gehlot government's turn to give succour to the people by bringing down the rates of VAT being levied in Rajasthan, which is the highest in the country, he said.

"Modi government gave a gift of relief to the public on Diwali, now Chief Minister Gehlot should leave political rhetoric and reduce VAT," said Poonia.

"Compared to other states, Rajasthan has the highest VAT in the country making the diesel-petrol expensive here. Other states, including Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc have reduced the VAT. Now, I demand that the Gehlot government too follow suit."

Gehlot had earlier denied the possibility of slash in VAT. In his tweet, Gehlot had said, "with the reduction of Excise Duty by the Centre, the VAT of the states is automatically reduced in the same proportion, yet we demand that the Centre reduce the excise duty further to reduce the inflation."

''With this reduction in excise duty, our revenue shall reduce by Rs 1,800 crore, while our decision taken in January 2021 to reduce VAT by Rs 2 has brought a loss of Rs 1,000 crore to state revenue. Overall, the state has suffered a loss worth Rs 2,800 crore in revenue. Still, we demand further reduction in excise duty by the Centre so that people can be benefited, he added.