CHENNAI: Chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that states like Tamil Nadu were not passing on the benefits of fuel duty cut of the Centre, leading to higher cost of petrol and diesel. “What he says is like hiding a whole pumpkin in a handful of rice,” the chief minister told the assembly, quoting a Tamil proverb. In tweet later, Stalin said the Centre had made Rs26lakh crore from fuel in the last eight years.
Finance minister P Thiaga Rajan said it was unfair to ask the state to reduce its VAT when it had not given effect to ‘200% increase in tax on petrol and six-fold increase on diesel’ like the NDA government since 2014.
