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‘Rudderless’ Govt in Opp firing line in Parliament
Opposition parties on Thursday took the Government to task over biting inflation and asked it to quit if it did not have a way out of the current situation.
On a day Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha that many essential commodities have become cheaper in the last two years, the Opposition in the Lok Sabha tore into the economic policies of the Manmohan Singh Government.
Mukherjee’s brief intervention in the Lok Sabha to suggest food inflation has dropped to 6.6 per cent from 8 per cent did not excite the Opposition. CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta cautioned Mukherjee against leniency over the “seasonal relief” and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj asked him not to take refuge behind technical reasons to justify inflation.
She read out from her grocery bill to buttress her claim about household expenditure growing with every passing day. “On December 3, I bought gram flour (atta) at the rate of Rs 18.2 per kg, rice cost me Rs 27 per kg, salt Rs 13 per kg and onion Rs 25 per kg,” she read out.
Suggested the ruling UPA not to let US’ concern eclipse its own reform process, Swaraj said: “Reform does not mean image makeover in America. True reform would mean reforming the lowest strata of the society.” “If you cannot solve the problem abdicate the throne. We will find a way forward.”
Dasgupta, who initiated the discussion, said the Government should work towards increasing agricultural produce if it wanted a long-term solution to curb inflation. Terming the Government as “rudderless”, Dasgupta said the issue of price rise was a “long story of failed promises of a faceless Government”.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) alleged that the continuous price rise shows that the Government efforts (to contain inflation) are not visible. “Government is not making serious efforts to contain inflation and instead making policies which are fueling it,” he said.
Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP) said the Government must do something to contain inflation as the poor people are desperately waiting for situation to improve.
Attacking the BJP, Kalyan Banerjee (AITC) said, “You will not come in power by delivering a speech here. You need a mandate for that.” TKS Elangovan (DMK), Basudeb Acharia (CPM), B Mahtab (BJD), Anandrao Adsul (SS) and Supriya Sule (NCP) also participated in the discussion.
Opposition parties on Thursday took the Government to task over biting inflation and asked it to quit if it did not have a way out of the current situation.
On a day Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha that many essential commodities have become cheaper in the last two years, the Opposition in the Lok Sabha tore into the economic policies of the Manmohan Singh Government.
Mukherjee’s brief intervention in the Lok Sabha to suggest food inflation has dropped to 6.6 per cent from 8 per cent did not excite the Opposition. CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta cautioned Mukherjee against leniency over the “seasonal relief” and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj asked him not to take refuge behind technical reasons to justify inflation.
She read out from her grocery bill to buttress her claim about household expenditure growing with every passing day. “On December 3, I bought gram flour (atta) at the rate of Rs 18.2 per kg, rice cost me Rs 27 per kg, salt Rs 13 per kg and onion Rs 25 per kg,” she read out.
Suggested the ruling UPA not to let US’ concern eclipse its own reform process, Swaraj said: “Reform does not mean image makeover in America. True reform would mean reforming the lowest strata of the society.” “If you cannot solve the problem abdicate the throne. We will find a way forward.”
Dasgupta, who initiated the discussion, said the Government should work towards increasing agricultural produce if it wanted a long-term solution to curb inflation. Terming the Government as “rudderless”, Dasgupta said the issue of price rise was a “long story of failed promises of a faceless Government”.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) alleged that the continuous price rise shows that the Government efforts (to contain inflation) are not visible. “Government is not making serious efforts to contain inflation and instead making policies which are fueling it,” he said.
Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP) said the Government must do something to contain inflation as the poor people are desperately waiting for situation to improve.
Attacking the BJP, Kalyan Banerjee (AITC) said, “You will not come in power by delivering a speech here. You need a mandate for that.” TKS Elangovan (DMK), Basudeb Acharia (CPM), B Mahtab (BJD), Anandrao Adsul (SS) and Supriya Sule (NCP) also participated in the discussion.
