bengaluru chief minister basavaraj bommai on wednesday said the government will take a call on slashing sales tax on petrol and diesel after assessing the states finances on wednesday the price of petrol in bengaluru stood at 111 09 per litre and diesel retailed at rs 94 79 per litrebommai was reacting to prime minister narendra modis appeal to state governments to slash state taxes on motor fuels and lower retail prices of these products and provide relief to the common manduring a video conference with chief ministers of all states modi lauded the decision of karnataka gujarat maharashtra and other states which slashed sales tax on petrol and diesel in november last yearhe cited the example of karnataka and gujarat both ruled by bjp saying they have suffered a revenue loss of nearly rs 5000 crore and rs 35004000 crore respectively by reducing taxes but they did so to help people neighbouring states did not follow suit he saidthe karnataka government had reduced sales tax on petrol from 35 to 25 9 and that on diesel from 24 to 14 3 which in real terms meant a reduction of rs 13 5 and rs 19 5 respectively per litre on the two fuels but this relief was shortlived since it was offset by a rise in the base price of the fuels since sales tax is ad valorem in nature it moves up or down in proportion to the base pricecong jibe at pms appealtaking a jibe at prime minister modi for asking states to cut tax on diesel and petrol siddaramaiah opposition leader in the assembly urged the centre to lead by example on the issue there is only one word to describe narendra modis words and actions its hypocrisy siddaramaiah tweeted he went on to say central excise duty on diesel is now rs 21 84 and on petrol 27 91 this is an increase from rs 3 45 and 9 21 respectively since bjp came to power restore excise duty to premodi times cm to leave for delhi tomorrowchief minister basavaraj bommai is scheduled to leave for delhi on friday to participate in a conclave organised by judicial infrastructure corporation on saturday to address issues of judicial infrastructure the convention will be attended by cms from all states and chief justices of high courts during his visit bommai is expected to meet the partys national president jp nadda and union home minister amit shah and discuss the cabinet expansion issue party functionaries and aspirants believe expansion may happen in the first or second week of maytax cut on fuel will depend on states finances bommaiup up and away workers move a hoarding ahead of a congress party rally in bengaluru to protest rising prices of petrol diesel and lpg