The Congress-led UPA government befooled people by reducing the rates of petrol and suspending revision in prices of diesel before the Karnataka Assembly elections, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said.

Jayalalithaa said the centre avoided any increase of the prices of the fuels before the recently concluded Karnataka Assembly elections, but increased the prices of fuels after the polls.

Accusing the Centre of befooling people, she said, "Centre govt. had not just reduced prices of petrol since March 16 keeping in mind the Karnataka elections.. Increasing the prices of diesel twice and petrol once after polls is a fooling act."

Government-run oil marketing companies (OMCs), viz. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), has increased the price of petrol by 75 paise per litre and of diesel by 50 paise per litre.

The OMCs said steep depreciation in the rupee forced them to increase prices of the fuels, but Jayalalithaa argued that the OMCs couldn't justify the hike by citing depreciation in the Indian currency.

The rupee recently slipped to its 10-month low level, making imports of petroleum products costlier for oil marketing companies.

But, Jayalalithaa again argued that that the depreciation in the currency was due to the Centre's wrong economic policies.