Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday announced that it would not reduce Sales Tax on the hiked prices of petrol and diesel as has been done in Congress-ruled states.
UP Development Council Chairman and SP General Secretary Amar Singh said the state was not in a position for ''financial experiments'' at this stage.
''The Congress-ruled states can afford to reduce ST and other levies on petroleum products as they stand a chance to get compensated by the Congress-led government at the Centre. If the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister assure UP to refund the cost, we can think on those lines,'' he said.
The SP had on Tuesday organised a state-wide general strike to protest against the petro-price hike.
Singh alleged by cutting Sales Tax and other levies on fuel, UP would lose revenue. ''As we do not get our share of funds, therefore we cannot ourselves reduce the taxes.''
He said it was an open secret that the SP government and the Congress were on a confrontation mode. ''If we complete a project before deadline and seek more funds, we are denied that.
Funds should be denied if the project is completed after the deadline,'' he suggested.
The SP leader also slammed AICC chief Sonia Gandhi for criticising the centre for the petro price hike.
''It is like a stage managed wrestling match. How can the PM confront the AICC president, who is a powerful person by all means,'' he wondered.
Comments
0 comment