Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India is said to have flatly rejected the Andhra Pradesh government's plea to permit it to reduce sales tax on petrol by three per cent to "provide relief to people in view of the recent price hike."
With a clear eye on the June 12 by-elections, state Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy directed officials of the Commercial Taxes Department to obtain permission from the EC to "review the tax structure on petrol" so as to bring down the price by Rs 1.80 per litre in the state.
The CT Department officials took up the issue "informally" with the EC authorities but were clearly told that no such permission would be given as the ruling party could try to derive mileage out of it, highly-placed official sources in the state government said.
The Chief Minister's Office went to town on Wednesday evening claiming that the petrol price is being brought down even before the state government took up the issue formally with the EC.
When price of petrol was hiked on previous occasions, the Chief Minister flatly refused to concede the opposition parties' demand for reduction in sales tax as it was the highest in the country at 33 per cent.
The Chief Minister turned down even Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's suggestion when petrol price was increased by Rs 5 a litre last time.
Now that the Congress is facing rough weather in the by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats and the petrol price hike threatening to mar its prospects further, the Chief Minister sought to reduce the tax by three per cent and gain political mileage.
The EC, however, nipped Kiran's proposal in the bud, much to the discomfiture of the Congress party.
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