Gas pricing issue needs to be looked at by new govt: Jaitley

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said a BJP government at the Centre will reconsider the gas price hike.

The comments came a day after the Election Commission (EC) ordered deferment of the increase in gas pricing. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the issue might be reconsidered by the next government as it was not clear as to what "formulation" the UPA dispensation followed in fixing the price. "I think as the situation has evolved itself, it may require a reconsideration or revisiting by the next government," Jaitley said. He said the government has told the Supreme Court, where a petition on the matter has been filed, and now the EC has also said the issue is for the next government to consider as he argued that it is now incumbent for the next government to revisit the issue. At an Network18 Google Hangout interaction, he, however, made it clear that he was not in favour of "economic adventurism" and targeted AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for his allegation that corruption was at the root of the proposed price hike. "Merely because somebody is an industrialist I must go and necessarily hit at him so as to appear to be a great fighter for causes itself... We will be guided by the considerations of there being a transparent policy, the industry being able to recover its cost plus some return on investment and the sector itself growing," he said, adding consumers would not be allowed to be exploited.