The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) on Sunday stepped up pressure on the State government for further tax cuts on petrol and diesel, even as Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal argued that the demand hurt the interests of the State since the Centre was to blame for the unreasonable fuel prices.
Senior Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan, KPCC president K. Sudhakaran and Oommen Chandy, on Sunday demanded further cuts on the part of the State government. The LDF government should emulate the example of the Oommen Chandy government and forego additional tax revenue and ease the burden on the public, they said.
The LDF-UDF spat over fuel prices is on at a time when campaigning for the Thrikkakara bypoll is at its peak. Following the excise duty cuts announced by the Centre on Saturday, the sale tax collected by the State had correspondingly dipped by ₹2.41 on petrol and ₹1.36 on diesel.
