Rahul Gandhi slams Centre over oil price hike

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday slammed the Narendra Modi-led Central government over the hike in petrol and diesel prices in the country.

"Just 3 days ago I had requested PMO to pass on the benefit of the global oil price crash to Indian consumers, by slashing the prices of petrol and diesel in India. Instead of heeding this advice, our genius has gone and hiked excise duty on fuel," said Gandhi on his Twitter handle.

In his tweet, Gandhi also shared a video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressing a press meet.

Earlier, Rahul's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also hit out at the Centre over the same issue, asking why the government had failed to provide relief to common people at a time when international prices of crude oil were at an all-time low.

The government on Saturday hiked the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre and road cess by Re 1, effectively a Rs 3 per litre hike on both commodities.

Petrol in Delhi on Saturday was selling at Rs 69.87 per litre while diesel is costing Rs 62.58 per litre. The decision came amid steep fall in global crude oil in a bid by the government to mop up additional money as it battles weak revenues.

The Congress had slammed the BJP-led government for the hike and have also accused it of indulging in profiteering.