Congress party president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by writing a mocking note on his behalf to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Attaching a news report, Rahul Gandhi said in his tweet: “Dear FM, As you are indisposed and Finance Secretary is on vacation with his Guru on a quest for inner peace, I have decided to shut the Finance Ministry till further notice.”
“The PMO will take all financial policy decisions as before”, added Rahul Gandhi in his note, which is signed as “Prime Minister”.
Dear FM,
As you are indisposed and Finance Secretary is on vacation with his Guru on a quest for inner peace, I have decided to shut the Finance Ministry till further notice.
The PMO will take all financial policy decisions as before.
Prime Ministerhttps://t.co/EqHxbkQSXT
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 8, 2018
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is awaiting a kidney transplant, has not attended office for a month. Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia is also going on a yoga/meditation retreat to Mysore for 16 days with his guru Swami Visharadanand Saraswathy. Adhia will be on leave from tomorrow, May 5 to May 20. During the absence of top-two heads of the ministry, Expenditure Secretary A N Jha is expected to officiate.
On Monday, Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government on “skyrocketing” prices of petrol, LPG, diesel. He later led a protest against the high fuel prices in Kolar, Karnataka.
Rahul Gandhi uploaded a video criticising the PM Modi-led govt, saying, “The BJP Govt. collected 10 Lakh Crore in taxes on Petrol/LPG/Diesel since 2014. Yet, NO relief in prices for our citizens. This video shows the truth about fuel prices under PM Modi”.
The video claims that since 2014, the prices of the crude oil have dropped by 67 per cent yet prices have “skyrocketed”, while the BJP government, which promised ‘achhe din’, is “silent” on the issue.
The video alleges that since 2014, PM Modi government increased central tax on petrol by Rs 8.78/litre and on diesel by Rs 10.37/litre. While drawing comparisons, the video said Karnataka has reduced state tax on petrol by Rs 3.11/litre and on diesel by Rs 1.03/litre in last five years.