Amit Shah meets Pradhan as petrol, diesel prices touch record high

Amid petrol and diesel prices scaling new highs on daily basis, BJP president Amit Shah Monday met Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said.

It was not immediately clear what transpired at the meeting, which took place at the BJP headquarters in the national capital.

While Pradhan was not reachable for comments, sources said assembly elections in Odisha and spiralling fuel prices may have topics of discussions between the two leaders.

Assembly elections are due in Odisha in 2019.

Pradhan, who had at the time of the previous rally in May spoken about a long-term solution to price volatility in works, on Saturday blamed the current spike to global factors.

Shah had in May indicated of a solution being in works in the government to check rising fuel prices in the country.

Rates had fallen shortly after touching a peak of Rs 78.43 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 69.31 a litre for diesel in the national capital on May 29.

A month later, petrol prices were at Rs 75.55 a litre and diesel at Rs 67.38. Rates thereafter slowly starting moving up and since mid-August have been on fire, rising by Rs 3.65 a litre in case of petrol and by Rs 4.06 per litre in case of diesel as the rupee hit the record low against the US dollar, making imports costlier.

Petrol in Delhi costs Rs 80.73 per litre and a litre of diesel comes for Rs 72.83 a litre. In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 88.12 a litre and diesel costs Rs 77.32 per litre.

Rates vary from city to city depending on local sales tax or VAT and transportation cost. Delhi has the cheapest price in all metros and most state capital because of lower taxes.

The meeting between Shah and Pradhan came on a day when opposition parties led by Congress for the first time observed a nationwide strike over soaring fuel prices.