Congress leader and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday criticised the Centre for the fuel price hike and claimed that the rate can be reduced by ₹25 per litre but the government is not doing it.

"It is possible to cut upto ₹25 per litre, but the government will not. They will cheat the people by cutting price by ₹1 or 2 per litre of petrol," said Chidambaram over Twitter. "Bonanza to central government is ₹25 on every litre of petrol. This money rightfully belongs to the average consumer. Central government saves ₹15 on every litre of petrol due to fall in crude oil prices. It also puts additional tax of ₹10 on every litre of petrol," he added.