Asking the SAD chief to stop parroting the lines of his political masters in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday dared Sukhbir Badal to quit the ruling coalition at the Centre before resorting to street protests against the State Government’s decision on VAT hike on fuel.

Capt Amarinder, reacting to the protests led by Sukhbir against the VAT hike with social distancing norms thrown to the winds, said that instead of putting the lives of Punjab’s people to risk with his politically motivated acts, SAD president should pressurize the Central Government to roll back “shocking” manifold increase in petrol and diesel prices since the beginning of Unlock 1.0 in the country.

What made these hikes even more abominable was the fact that they came even as crude prices internationally were showing a remarkable downward trend, he added.The Chief Minister pointed out that since 2016, the NDA Government, in which SAD was a partner, had increased taxes on diesel by 900 percent and on petrol by 700 percent. Prices of petrol and diesel in India are now the highest in the world, he noted.

“While all other central taxes have a 42 percent state share, the taxes on petroleum products have been increased by way of cess and not excise, thus depriving the states of their share and the entire revenue of over Rs two lakh crores from the 22 straight days of hike in June 2020, going into the Centre’s kitty,” said Capt Amarinder.

Terming Sukhbir’s assertion that his party will press the Centre to reduce fuel prices once Punjab Government does the same as “sheer nonsense”, he said that the State Government had announced a single hike in VAT for fuel, which came after a series of daily increases in the fuel prices by the Government of India.

Punjab’s VAT increase could not be compared with the huge burden imposed by the Centre with its spiraling fuel price, he said.“What we have earned in revenue through that single VAT hike is peanuts compared with the revenue garnered by the Centre with these fuel price increases in the month of June,” he said, asking Sukhbir to first ask the Union Government to roll back those hikes, which had benefitted no one but them.

On Sukhbir’s claim that he had already written to the Prime Minister seeking reduction in excise duty for petrol and diesel, Capt Amarinder said that given the total lack of concern this shows on the part of the Centre to issues raised by one of their own coalition partners, the Akalis should not remain in the alliance for a single day.

Any self-respecting political party, which truly cares for its people, would have walked out of the Central Government a long time ago, “but with their shameless greed for power, neither Sukhbir Badal, nor Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is a Minister in the Union Cabinet, would think of doing that”, the Chief Minister quipped.Alleging that Sukhbir and his party have only helped the Central Government in creating more problems for the people across the country in the past five years, the Chief Minister cited the CAA legislation, which had the full support of the SAD in the Parliament.

“Far from persuading the central government to take measures for Punjab’s uplift, the Akalis had blatantly backed their anti-farm Ordinances, which were designed to ruin the state,” he said asking why SAD did not pressurize the Centre to provide financial relief to Punjab amid the COVID crisis?