Karnataka Fuel Price Hike: BJP Announces Protest Over Tax Increase, Says 'Hypocrite Congress's True Face Exposed'

Petrol and diesel prices in Karnataka increased after the state revised sales tax on Saturday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced a protest on Monday against the State Government due to the recent fuel hike. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla criticised the Congress government, stating, "The true colours of the Congress party has been exposed". He accused the grand old party of hypocrisy, noting that they complained about inflation but then raised fuel prices in their own states.

Poonawalla further commented, "'Haathi ke daant and Congress ki sarkaar, khaane ke aur, dikhane ke aur'. In Karnataka, they have passed an anti-farmer, anti-common man order, increasing petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 and Rs 3.05. This is to break the common man's back because they have bankrupted Karnataka with their schemes."

"The grand old party only wants to loot and take away the money of the common man. Due to their policies, these taxes are being imposed. Rahul Gandhi promised Rs 1 lakh would be deposited into accounts. Will they now deposit money into the bank accounts of women in Karnataka and Himachal?"

BJP spokesperson S Prakash also criticised the Congress government, led by Siddaramaiah, for increasing diesel and petrol prices after the Parliamentary elections. "People were expecting Rs 8,500 in their bank accounts as promised by Rahul Gandhi. Instead, they have been burdened by the increase in petroleum products," Prakash told ANI.

"This is an outcome of the guarantee schemes pursued by the State Government, which is financially bankrupt and trying to extract revenue from whatever is available," he added.

Announcing a protest against the Siddaramaiah government, Karnataka BJP leader BY Vijayendra told reporters, "The State Government has been talking a lot about guarantee schemes. But, the situation of the state is such that there is not enough money to run the state."

"The decision taken by the state government to increase the price of petrol & diesel, BJP demands the CM to roll back the decision. On Monday, we are going to organise protests across Karnataka," he added.

K'taka Hikes Petrol, Diesel Prices By Rs 3 Per Litre 

According to a gazette notification, the government revised sales tax on petrol and diesel to 29.84% and 18.44%, respectively. The Petroleum Dealers Association reported that petrol and diesel prices are likely to rise by Rs 3 and Rs 3.05 approximately in Karnataka, ANI reported.

The price of petrol surged by Rs 3, bringing the rate in Bengaluru to Rs 102.84 per litre, up from Rs 99.84. Similarly, diesel prices increased by Rs 3.02, raising the cost per litre from Rs 85.93 to Rs 88.95.

A biker named Chandan expressed his frustration to ANI, saying, "The rich can get petrol, where will we go? I work at a BPO. I will have to get petrol on a Rs 15,000 salary... This will affect us vastly".

This decision by Karnataka followed the central government's reduction of windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil from Rs5,200 per tonne to Rs 3,250 per tonne, PTI reported.  The tax, lived as Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED), on the export of diesel, petrol, and jet fuel or ATF, was retained at 'nil'.

The government first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, 2022, joining other nations taxing supernormal profits of energy companies. The tax rates are revised every fortnight based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.

In March this year, the government reduced petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 litre, marking the first nationwide fuel price cut since May 2022.