Hyderabad:
The Election Commission of India (ECI) 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 (CT) Department to obtain permission from the ECI 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 ECI 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 this evening claiming that the petrol price is being brought down even before the state government took up the issue formally with the ECI.
When the 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 even turned down Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's suggestion when petrol price was increased by Rs 5 a litre last time.
With a clear eye on the June 12 by-elections, state Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy directed officials of the Commercial Taxes (CT) Department to obtain permission from the ECI 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 ECI 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 this evening claiming that the petrol price is being brought down even before the state government took up the issue formally with the ECI.
When the 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 even turned down Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's suggestion when petrol price was increased by Rs 5 a litre last time.
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