Union Minister Rameswar Teli on Sunday took a dig at the Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh over its poll promise of providing LPG cylinders at ₹500 each, and said even a "paper cylinder" cannot be made available at that price.
The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas was talking to reporters at Khargone.
"The Congress will make such announcements as it is not in the government. They will say this to come to power. I have seen their big posters promising an LPG cylinder at ₹500. An empty cylinder costs around ₹700-800. Not even a kagaz ka cylinder (paper cylinder) will be available at ₹500," Mr. Teli said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath has promised that his party would provide cooking gas cylinders to the poor families in the State at ₹500 each if elected to power in the State, where the Assembly election is due by the year-end.
Speaking about the rates of petroleum products, Mr. Teli said the fuel prices are different in each State due to the imposition of value-added tax (VAT). Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to bring these items under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to bring uniformity. "But some States like West Bengal and Delhi, who are members of the GST Council, opposed this proposal, which is why it could not be done. I am, however, hopeful that fuel prices would be brought under the purview of GST in the coming days," Mr. Teli said.
