Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should thank Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin for augmenting the revenue for the Union government by decreasing the petrol price in the state. 

Speaking at the assembly session on Thursday on the debate on the revised budget that he presented in the session, Thiagarajan said that Stalin's decision of reducing the petrol price, by decreasing the state tax, has enhanced the revenue of the Union government by Rs 1,200 crore annually. During presenting the budget last week, the finance minister has announced that the petrol price will be decreased to Rs 3 per litre in the state, which poured a major relief to the people amid the incessant demand for cutting down the price, thereby bringing the rate of petrol per litre below Rs 100 in the state. 

Thiagarajan said that the average sales of petrol were 91,88,000 litres per day in the state from August 1 to August 13 and after reducing the petrol price, the average sales were 1,03,17,000 litres. He noted that on average, the sale of petrol had increased by 11.29 lakh litres per day, accounting for a 12% rise from August 14. The significant increase in sales had increased the revenue of the Union government by Rs 3.55 crore per day. However, he said that he was not sure whether this trend will continue in the coming days. 

He further said that the Union government would get additional revenue of Rs 1,200 crore annually and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should thank Chief Minister MK Stalin for his decision of reducing petrol price. It must be noted that the DMK has promised to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel if it comes to power in the state. While the DMK government has reduced the petrol price amid prevailing financial deficits, the people expect that the party has to meet other promises including reducing the price of diesel, providing subsidies for LPG cylinders and emoluments for the homemakers. 

DMK has promised of reducing Rs 5 per litre of diesel and recently, speaking at the assembly on why the price of diesel wasn't reduced, Palanivel Thiagarajan has said that reducing the price of petrol will directly be benefitting the people while it won't be in the case of diesel. He said that the taxes of petrol and diesel were raised three times in the ADMK regime while the DMK rule during 2006-2011 had reduced the taxes four times and the current DMK government has now reduced the price of petrol after coming to power and added that the Tamil Nadu government is working to cement social and economical justice.