Rahul Gandhi takes dig at govt, says prices will come down during elections

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the Centre over the rising fuel prices on Tuesday, saying the petrol and diesel rates will come down at the time of the next elections in the country.

He also shared a graph with the caption "GOI's Vikaas of Fuel Prices" on Twitter, which showed that the prices of petrol and diesel have been rising since September last year, only plateauing or dipping during state polls.

"When will the prices of petrol and diesel come down? When the next elections happen," the former Congress chief said in a tweet in Hindi.

His attack on the government came as the diesel price crossed the Rs 100-per-litre mark in Odisha after the fuel rates were hiked again.

The price of petrol was hiked by 28 paise per litre and that of diesel by 26 paise per litre, according to a price notification of the state-owned fuel retailers.

In Delhi, the petrol price has hit an all-time high of Rs 97.5 a litre, while diesel is now priced at Rs 88.23 per litre.

The fuel prices differ from state to state, depending on the incidence of local taxes such as Value-Added Tax (VAT) and freight charges.

For this reason, first the price of petrol and now that of diesel has crossed Rs 100 per litre at several places.

The Congress has been critical of the government for the rising petrol and diesel prices.

The opposition party has also been demanding that petrol and diesel be brought under the purview of the GST regime.