Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges states to act on the rising fuel prices and reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel, many opposition leaders criticized his statements, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
CM Mamata Banerjee hit out at PM Modi, saying that his speech over the fuel prices was “misleading and one-sided”. She further said that her government has spent Rs 1,500 crore in the last three years to subsidise petrol and diesel prices in the state.
As per news agency PTI, Banerjee told reporters, “PM Narendra Modi has delivered a completely one-sided and misleading speech. The facts shared by him were wrong. We have been providing a subsidy of Re 1 on every litre of petrol and diesel for the last three years. We've spent Rs 1,500 crore on this.”
Her jibe at the prime minister came a few hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a virtual interaction with chief ministers, flagged higher fuel prices in opposition-ruled states such as Maharashtra, Kerala and West Bengal and asked the state governments to reduce VAT for the benefit of the common man.
She termed PM Modi’s speech as one-sided, saying that there was no scope for the chief ministers of states to speak at the meeting and put forward their perspectives. She said that the CMs could not counter PM Modi’s statements.
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After PM Modi urged the states to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel, the West Bengal CM said, “We have dues of Rs 97,000 crore with the Centre. The day we get half of the amount, the next day we will give Rs 3,000 crore petrol and diesel subsidy. I have no problem with subsidies but how will I run my government?"
"It's not correct to say that we have not given subsidy. We have waived taxes of all those in the transport business and spent Rs 1,000 crore on it," she said, as per PTI reports.
The social media handle of Trinamool Congress (TMC) also slammed PM Modi’s statements on rising fuel prices in a series of tweets. TMC said, “It is our promise that if the Central Government clears our dues, the Government of West Bengal will exempt all taxes from Petrol & Diesel for the next 5 years! ?97,807.91 Cr is due. @narendramodi Ji, let's see if you can deliver.”
(With PTI inputs)
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