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Opposition takes government to task in Rajya Sabha over price rise

Led by former finance minister Manmohan Singh, the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha today launched a blistering attack on the government for its ''failure'' to arrest the spiralling prices of essential commodities, and some of the members went to the extent of demanding its immediate resignation on the issue.

The government was hand in glove with delinquent traders who manipulated the prices of essential items, especially those of onions and other vegetables, they alleged as the issue came up during zero hour through a special mention made by Dr Singh.

Dr Singh, leader of the Opposition in the House, charged the government with ''gross mismanagement'' of the economy. ''The government has been lax to the point of criminality,'' he said.

The former finance minister, obviously jubilant over the Congress's performance in the assembly elections, painted a grim picture of the economy. This, he said, was due to the ''faulty policies'' pursued by the government.

Communist Party of India's Gurudas Dasgupta alleged that the government had been found to be friendly towards delinquent traders of essential commodities. He charged the government with failure to discharge its duties under the Constitution, and demanded its resignation.

The CPI member also accused the government of deliberately not amending the Essential Commodities Act so that the business lobby could benefit.

Communist Party of India-Marxist member, Dr Biplab Dasgupta said the people had shown their lack of confidence in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the recent assembly elections because of the manner in which it had managed the country's economy. The government tried to capitalise on the Pokhran nuclear tests, realising little that the country's scarce economic resources had been diverted towards the blasts.

Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav demanded that the Bharatiya Janata Party government resign as it was following pro-trader policies at the cost of consumers.

Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's S Virumbi said the abnormal price rise was due to mismanagement and the government should take steps to check rise in essential commodities.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam regretted that the export of onions continued even after their production was expected to be half of last year's.

Telugu Desam Party member S Ram Chandra Reddy wanted the agriculture ministry to build up reserves of essential commodities.

BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who was repeatedly interrupted by the Congress and other Opposition members, said now that the Congress party taken advantage of the rise in prices by winning the recent elections, it should cooperate with the government to control the prices.

He reminded the members that the recent chief ministers' conference had identified three factors for the price rise: seasonal fluctuations, policies pursued by the Congress over the years and rumours, particularly about salt.

Malhotra asked why no state government, including those of the Congress and the CPI-M, had not taken any action against hoarders.

He said import of onions by the Congress in the last three years of its rule, had adversely affected the interests of farmers.

UNI

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