From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Apr 27: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Chief D K Shivakumar has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to first cut excise duty on all petroleum products and direct all the BJP-ruled States to slash taxes on petrol and diesel before asking opposition-ruled States to reduce the burden on the people.

“We are following a federal system of governance and the Prime Minister must speak of the country rather than talk about the States. Let the Prime Minister ask the BJP-ruled States to become a model for other States before advising the opposition ruled States,’’ he said in Bengaluru on Wednesday, April 27.

Briefing reporters after the first State-executive committee and office-bearers meeting of KPCC held in the presence of AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge and other senior leaders, he said photographs of the Prime Minister distributing gas cylinders are displayed in all petrol, diesel filling stations. Does he know what has happened to the cylinders and what happened to the subsidy, he asked.

“If Modi’s photographs are displayed along with the cylinders, the government should also mention the rates of the LPG,’’ he said.

When asked about Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s statement that he will take a decision on reducing the taxes on petrol and diesel after reviewing the financial position of the State, Shivakumar said it is for the BJP national leaders to direct the States ruled by the party.

To a question on the vaccination for school children, the KPCC Chief said it is the Government’s responsibility to take care of all people, particularly children and at the same time all steps to protect the citizens from the difficulties they are facing on account of the Covid pandemic.

Asked about the transfer of 4 police officers for taking Bajrang Dal activists into custody for preventing tender coconuts sale by persons belonging to a particular community in Mangaluru, Shivakumar said the transfers prove that the government wants to be run as per the dictates of the BJP.

He accused the BJP government of expecting the police to act as BJP workers and said it was the Bommai government which forced policemen to wear saffron dress instead of their uniforms in Udupi. ``Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is supporting moral policing by BJP workers and wants the police to function as BJP activists,’’ he charged.

The State Congress Chief said the office-bearers and the executive committee members have decided to work unitedly to fight against the anti-people policies of the BJP regime.

Congress Opposition leaders in the Assembly and Council Siddaramaiah and BK Hariprasad as well as KPCC Working Presidents Ishwar Khandre, Saleem Ahmed, B Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi, Dhruvanarayan and former Union Minister KH Muniyappa, former KPCC Chief Dinesh Gundu Rao were among the leaders who participated in the meeting.