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No sooner had the confrontation between the government and Opposition parties been resolved, then another storm seems to be in the offing. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), has moved a statutory motion against the government's notification to raise excise duty on petrol and diesel. The motion, moved last week, has full backing of the Congress.
The Rajya Sabha has admitted the motion and it will have to be listed for discussion and voting when the Business Advisory Committee meets this week.
It could lead to a peculiar situation as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government does not enjoy a majority in the Upper House.
Opposition parties voiced their protest in the Lok Sabha as well, questioning how despite a decline in international prices of crude, the benefit had not been passed to the consumer.
"It (statutory motion) has to be disposed of. Either I withdraw or the House rejects it and that has to be done through vote," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters here on Tuesday. According to him, petrol and diesel prices will fall to Rs 40 and Rs 35, respectively, if the government had not allowed private companies to make a "windfall of profits".
The CPI(M)'s statutory motion wants an amendment to the notification moved by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on December 2, by bringing down the duty on unbranded petrol to Rs 2.60 a litre from Rs 4.95, and on branded petrol from Rs 6.10 a litre to Rs 3.75. For unbranded diesel, the Opposition wants the duty brought down to Rs 2.86 a litre from Rs 3.96 and for branded diesel from Rs 6.25 a litre to Rs 5.15.
The Congress, too, is rallying with the Opposition challenging the excise duty increase, which was done twice within a one-month period. Anand Sharma, deputy leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, told Business Standard: "The entire Opposition is together on this. We support the statutory motion moved by the Left." The Trinamool Congress (TMC) also supports the motion.
Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, even drew the attention of the House in the zero hour on how global crude oil prices have dropped from $120 to $65-70 and, hence, the prices of petrol and diesel should also have come down by Rs 3.25 a litre, but the situation is being used to mop-up Rs 15,000 crore to reduce budgetary deficit. "The benefit should have been passed on to the consumer," he said.
The Left parties and TMC members immediately supported Kharge on the issue. Revolutionary Socialist Party's N K Premachandran accused the government outrightly: "Parliament is being taken for granted," he said. He added the government should have laid the notification before Parliament, which it had not done in the case of the first increase on November 13.
The Opposition hopes to put the government on the mat over the issue, with the BJP not enjoying a majority in the Upper House. The Congress, TMC and Left parties claim they have the support of the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal (United) and other Opposition parties, which will ensure the motion is passed in the Rajya Sabha. According to them, this will compel the government to rethink its decision.
