The government’s bid to describe price rise as a Congress legacy was on Wednesday countered by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) constituents in the Lok Sabha who were quick to point out that the inheritance included the PSLV-C23, Katra-Udhampur rail link, Uri-II Hydro Electric Project and INS Vikramaditya, which were all recently commissioned with “fanfare” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The short-duration discussion on price rise saw Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan call for suggestions from all parties on how to deal with hoarding as, according to him, the country had adequate food stocks for two years. Conceding that these stocks were not built over the past 40 days since the National Democratic Alliance has been in office but was an inheritance from the UPA, he sought to remind the House that price rise was an annual phenomenon this time of the year.
At the end of the five-hour-long discussion, the Congress led the UPA in a walkout saying the government had not offered any solution to price rise. Prior to the walkout, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said it was not fair to blame the UPA for the railway fare hike. “We had deferred a decision so that the new government could consider it afresh,” he said in response to frequent references by the BJP that its government had only implemented a decision taken by the UPA.
As UPA members walked out, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu could be heard saying the Congress had scored a “self-goal.” For food inflation, the Congress also drew some flak from other members of the Opposition — particularly the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The main thrust of the Opposition was that even if the Congress was to be blamed for the price rise, “where is the change’’ that was promised during the election campaign? “What stopped you from rolling back the railway fare hike?” was an oft-repeated question to which Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda intervened: “We had the guts to implement it.”
