Left and BJP slam Govt on runaway inflation

With the Govt grappling how to deal with the double-digit inflation, a worried Congress asks the Govt to take some "hard steps" to rein in price rise.

The UPA government came under the mat for the 13-year-high in inflation with both its outside supporter Left and opposition BJP saying it was a "direct result" of hiking fuel prices steeply and "faulty" policies.

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With the government grappling how to deal with the double-digit inflation, a worried Congress asked the Government to take some "hard steps" to rein in price rise even if they hurt the growth rate.

BJP slammed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram for the situation and suggested they quit while the CPI targeted Chidambaram saying he should be sacked since all his measures to deal with the runway inflation were a "total failure."

"Ask the government," shot back CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat when asked for his comments as he sarcastically said government must "further increase" fuel prices.

The CPI-M Politburo came out with a statement saying mounting inflation was "a direct result of the steep increase effected by the government in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas."

Similar reactions also came in from Left leaders of CPI, RSP and FB who blamed the government's economic policies.

Maintaining that the government had "refused" to adopt the measures suggested by the Left parties like universalising PDS and banning forward trading in essential items, the CPI-M Politburo said the government was not willing to do away with the "iniquitous" taxation structure and the import parity pricing of petroleum products.

Squarely blaming Chidambaram for his "failure" in managing the economy, the BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy charged that his measures have "defied all economic logic".

The BJP was also joined by JD(U) in seeking the minister's resignation. BJP president Rajnath Singh proposed that an all party meeting be immediately convened.