Chennai : The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu has come out sharply against the central government for its indifference to the peoples’ plight over the unprecedented rise in price of fuel in the country. Tamil Nadu chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami on Tuesday blamed the centre for the rise and hinted that the state government was thinking of reducing vat on petrol and diesel.

Though the AIADMK did not participate in the bandh of Monday, called by Congress, its mouthpiece was critical of the central government on a host of issues including depreciation of rupee and alleged “step-motherly” treatment of non-BJP ruled states.

The party also came out in a belated support of the researcher who was arrested for raising slogans against the Modi government, when it noted with wonder that if these issues promoted a woman to raise slogans against BJP state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan on a flight recently.

Palaniswami told reporters at Salem that the government will consider cutting state taxes on petroleum products but the centre ought to do more.

“Only the Centre can reduce. The Centre is only increasing the prices, not the state (government),” he said in an apparent reference to Oil Marketing Companies’ daily revision of petrol and diesel prices.

The AIADMK is slowly changing its stance to fight off perception that it was being remote controlled by the BJP led central government. The day before, it took a decision to advise the governor to release all the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, which was earlier rejected by the central government, if only to show that it was taking the BJP on.