Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, announced a Rs 2 reduction in the Value Added Tax per litre on petrol and diesel, on Monday. This move will cost the state exchequer up to Rs 1,120 crore.
The CM’s move comes even as the Congress, with the support of Left and regional parties, called for a Bharat Bandh on Monday to protest the increasing fuel prices.
Recently, Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who parted ways from the NDA, launched a scathing attack at the Centre during a Politburo meeting in Telangana. While lashing out at the Centre for not giving the state Special Category Status, he said it was a failure on the part of the NDA as prices rose sharply. He also attacked the Centre over the value of the rupee depreciating and called demonetization a failure.
Despite his criticism against the NDA, he didn’t support the bandh and neither did the major Opposition party, YSR Congress party, in the state.
Other regional parties who opposed the price hike but didn’t lend support to the bandh, including the Aam Aadmi Party.
Meanwhile, the CPI, CPI(M), Jana Sena Party and Congress held protests across Andhra Pradesh on Monday against the rising fuel prices. The protestors gathered at bus stops across the state and tried halting services. In Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, agitators blocked roads, leading to traffic snarls. Several protestors were also detained by the police for disrupting the movement of buses.
In a statement, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan wrote, “The surging fuel price every day is worrying. We have been demanding that fuel be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). While crude prices are plummeting in international markets, the increase of fuel prices in India is disheartening.”