Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday hit out at the BJP-led central government for shying away from the opposition’s question over inflation in the Parliament and ‘hiding’ behind what had happened during the time of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Kharge’s statement came in the wake of the 12th hike in fuel prices in two weeks.
“When we keep the issues of the poor in Parliament and want to discuss them, they (BJP) want to hide these issues by bringing the former Prime Minister,” Leader of Opposition (LoP) said.
On March 25, finance minister Nirmala Sitharam had recalled Nehru’s 1951 speech when he had spoken about how the Korean war affected prices in India.
“Even in 1951, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru could say that the Korean war affected Indian inflation. I’ll have to say, war anywhere - can affect us. Today, in a globally connected world, it will definitely affect,” Sitharaman said in Parliament.
Kharge said, “The government, which claims to help the farmers, has suddenly reduced the subsidy on fertilisers. Prices of diesel, petrol and LPG are also increasing every day. The government has also hiked the prices of 70-80 medicines by 15%.” He said the central government was ‘looting the money of the poor’.
The Narendra Modi-led government has recently started linking the surge in diesel and petrol prices to the Ukraine war which is now in its sixth week.
{{/usCountry}}The Narendra Modi-led government has recently started linking the surge in diesel and petrol prices to the Ukraine war which is now in its sixth week.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha proceedings were also adjourned till Tuesday amid protests by Opposition parties seeking a discussion on issues related to rising fuel prices
Opposition members, including those from the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, staged a walkout protest in Lok Sabha against the fuel price hike.
Fuel prices were hiked on Monday by 40 paise a litre, taking the overall increase in the last two weeks to ₹8.40.
The price of petrol and diesel in Delhi is ₹103.81 per litre and ₹95.07 per litre, respectively on Monday (increased by 40 paise). In Mumbai, petrol and diesel prices per litre stood at ₹118.83 (increased by 84 paise) and ₹103.07 (increased by 43 paise).