Mumbai, September 6: Petrol and diesel prices continue to rise for the 12th consecutive day and have touched new record highs across the country. The petrol price in Mumbai on Thursday was Rs 86.91 per litre, 19 paise more than what it was on Wednesday while diesel was at Rs 75.96 per litre, 22 paise more than yesterday's price.

In Delhi, the price of petrol today was at Rs 79.51 per litre while diesel was being sold at Rs 71.55 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol price was Rs 82.41 per litre and diesel price was at Rs 74.40 per litre today. In Chennai, petrol and diesel were at Rs 82.62 per litre and Rs 75.61 per litre respectively.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday remained non-committal on cutting excise duty to cushion spiralling petrol and diesel prices. He said that international oil prices are volatile and have not shown any linear movement.

Jaitley defended criticism that he and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as opposition leaders had mounted against the previous UPA government on the issue saying inflation during those times was in double-digit and they would have failed in their duties if they had not criticised the government of the time for its failure to curb fuel prices contributing to further price rise.

On Tuesday, former finance minister P Chidambaram blamed the NDA government for rise in petrol and diesel prices, saying it was happening due to “excessive taxes”. In a series of tweets, the former finance minister also demanded that petrol and diesel be brought under the GST immediately.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 06, 2018 09:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).