Opposition Congress and BJP in Telangana have demanded that the state government cut the Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel to provide relief to people following the Centre’s move to cut excise duty.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Dasoju Sravan claimed that relentless struggle by the Congress party and repeated appeals by the party leader Rahul Gandhi compelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cut the prices.

“It’s high time that the Telangana government also proportionately reduce VAT and other taxes on petrol and diesel,” he said.

He demanded that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao cut VAT and other taxes by 30-40 per cent.

BJP state unit president Bandi Sanjay also demanded the state government to cut VAT.

He told reporters in Karimnagar on Sunday that the state government is collecting Rs 30 in form of tax on per litre petrol. He said if the state reduces the VAT, petrol price in the state can be brought down to Rs 80 per litre.

The BJP leader thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reducing the price of petrol and diesel and for giving Rs 200 subsidy on Ujjwala cylinder. He said the Centre has provided relief to people despite Covid-19 crisis and Russia-Ukraine war.

The Centre on Saturday announced Rs 8 per litre cut in excise duty on petrol and Rs 6 on diesel.

Following the Centre’s decision, the price of petrol in Hyderabad has been reduced by Rs 9.83 and that of diesel by Rs 7.67.

The new prices of petrol and diesel in Hyderabad are Rs 109.64 and Rs 97.80 respectively.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (government) had earlier rejected similar demands to reduce VAT saying it did not hike the tax in the last seven years.

Currently, VAT on petrol in Telangana is 35.2 per cent while it is 27 per cent on diesel.

The TRS government has been demanding that the Central government should reduce the cesses which it increased indiscriminately since 2014. The state government says that this will reduce fuel prices by 30 per cent.

Last month, Prime Minister Modi had asked opposition-ruled states to cut VAT. However, state minister and TRS working president K. T. Rama Rao blamed the Modi government for the fuel price hike.

Rama Rao had said that Telangana hasn’t increased VAT on fuel since 2014 and rounded off only once.

“We don’t get 41 per cent of our rightful share because of the Cess imposed by your govt. In the form of Cess you are looting 11.4 per cent from the state & we are getting only 29.6 per cent for FY23,” he had tweeted.

He had also stated that if Cess is scrapped, petrol can be sold at Rs 70 and diesel at Rs 60 all over India.

The price of diesel in Hyderabad crossed Rs 100 a litre mark on Thursday.

The oil companies on Thursday increased the prices of petrol and diesel increased by 32 paise and 38 paise, respectively. With the latest hike, the price of petrol in the city shot up to Rs 107.41 per litre and that of diesel to Rs 100.13 per litre.

It was on June 14 that the price of petrol had crossed Rs 100. Since then, the price of petrol has been hiked by nearly Rs 8 per litre while the price of diesel has gone up by almost Rs 5.

The price of premium petrol, the fuel with additives that is sold under different names by various petroleum companies, had already crossed Rs 100.

The fuel prices have been on a rise since May 4, and the cumulative increase has been to the tune of above Rs 13 in prices of petrol and above Rs 11 of diesel.

Oil companies have attributed the hike to the rally in oil prices in international market.

Among metros, Mumbai now has the highest petrol price at Rs 109.25 per litre, followed by Hyderabad at Rs 107.41.

The prices vary from state to state due to different rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) and also due to transportation charges from the nearest refinery.