Chief Minister said here that state government has no proposal to give relief to farmers by reducing VAT on diesel. He side tracked the query on cut in VAT on Petrol saying, "This would not be possible". He was posed with a question if his governmetn was ready to give relief to common man and the farmers after hike in Petrol, diesel rates by center government. He quipped,"Diesel is already cheaper in Punjab than neighbouring states".

Punjab governmetn which is reeling under financial crisis didn't want to loose income from VAT on Petrol which accounts for highest share in VAT colletion of about 5000 crores. Punjab collected total Vat  till January 2008 were Rs 4,966 crore, including Central Sales Tax (CST) of Rs 294 crore. Surprisingly the Vat collection from  petrol only accounted for Rs 1,239 crore, agriculture accounted for Rs 592 crore,  liquor Rs 24 crore, automobiles Rs 497 crore and other services Rs 2,317 crore.

Meanwhile,  Bikram Singh Majithia, Patron Youth Akali Dal and Public Relations Minister demanded the resignation of economist duo Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram for their stark failure to reign in spiraling inflation. He also demanded the resignation of Sonia Gandhi from Lok Sabha for her failure to check price rise.
                  
Condemning the steep hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG hitting the common man and farmers alike, Majithia said that it was unfortunate that this hike in petro price is aimed to benefit few handful multinational companies. He said that it was a matter of regret that whole issue of petro price hike campaign was organized  by Union Government to favour few companies ignoring the hardship of crores of Indian citizens who were already reeling under the impact of record inflation. He also questioned the silence of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on the critical issue of price hike.
                  
Reacting sharply on hike in fuel prices  Manornajan Kalia, Industry & Commerce Minister Punjab said that the UPA Government has failed to check the inflation.   He said that the spiraling prices and an economic slowdown were going hand in hand during the present regime of the United Progressive Alliance.
      
Squarely blaming the Centre Government for hike in fuel prices of petrol by Rs. 5 per liter, diesel by Rs. 3 per liter and LPG by Rs. 50 per cylinder would break the backbone of the consumer. Kalia said that with this hike the prices of petroleum products would also shoot up and put heavy burden on the house hold budget of the common man.  Kalia said the decision of Centre Government to hike the fuel prices was suicidal and highly unjustified.

Senior B.J.P.Leader and Medical Education Minister Tikshan Sud today alleged that by steeply hiking the rate of Petrol, Diesel and L.P.G., U.P.A. Government has fulfilled the agenda of multinational companies like Reliance and Craine India mortgaging the Indian Economy in their hands.

Sud reminded that N.D.A. Government under the leadership of Mr.Atal Behari Vajpayee had brought inflation at 2% and cushioned the common man from any price rise.  He said that people of India are now itching to bring back B.J.P. to power by electing Mr. Lal Krishan Advani as next Prime Minister of India.