Jaswant hits out at BJP stand over hike in petroleum products

Former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hit out at his erstwhile party, BJP, for objecting to increase in prices of petroleum products, saying there should be no protest as petrol and diesel also run costly cars.

"You see these cars? How much do they cost? Some of them even have a price tag of Rs 1 crore. I do not understand the objection in a rupee hike in diesel rates for cars which are so costly," Singh told reporters.  He was asked to react to the Opposition's boycott of the Lok Sabha during the presentation of the Union Budget.

The former union minister also supported fixing of fuel prices by market forces and not the government.

"We import 76 per cent of our hydrocarbon. In NDA regime, we had kept the government away from fixing fuel prices and allowed market forces to decide. Governments may come and go, let market forces decide on the pricing," he said.

The entire Opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha during the presentation of Budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, dubbing it "highly inflationary".