Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of Northeast Region, G. Kishan Reddy, also the Telangana BJP president, has said that the BRS leaders have no “ethical” right to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to reduce gas cylinder price by ₹200 when its government had refused to reduce even a single paisa of tax in the State to bring down the high fuel prices, in the last few years.
Talking to the media to welcome former Union Minister and former Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao’s son Dr. Vikas Rao and his wife Dr. Deepa into the party, the BJP leader claimed that the prices of petrol and diesel are the highest in the country, with the government’s tax enhanced to 35.2% on petrol and 25% on diesel causing a heavy burden on the people.
“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s government did not budge from their stand even after the Centre had voluntarily reduced taxes and had urged the States to follow suit to provide relief to the common man. Many State governments reduced the tax on fuel, but this government was not bothered. How can it talk about gas cylinder price now,” he questioned.
The Minister claimed that Mr. Modi’s ‘Rakhi gift’ to the womenfolk across the country was “unprecedented” as a price drop was done in one go. “The KCR regime had hiked bus fares, house tax, land registration charges and is totally dependent on excise sales as well as selling of lands in the last nine years. It has become financially bankrupt and is not concerned about future generations and needs in auctioning public lands and mortgaging even roads,” he charged.
National general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar was confident of the BJP coming to power “whenever they are held” and claimed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s Khammam meeting on Sunday was a “grand success”. It had effectively showed other parties about the popularity of the BJP among the people, he added.
