Chennai: BJP President Nitin Gadkari on held the UPA government "responsible" for spiralling prices of commodities and demanded it come out with a `white paper` on
the matter.
"The wrong economic policies and bad governance had led to the overall price hike of all commodities," Gadkari told reporters here on his maiden visit to Tamil Nadu.
The BJP leader claimed that the current inflation rate in India (over 11 percent) is the highest in the world. Citing a study, he said inflation in China was 2.7 percent, in US 2.6
percent, South Korea 2.7 percent, Europe 0.9 percent, Malaysia 1.3 percent and Singapore 0.2 percent.
"Let there be open debate and people know the chaos and
corruption in the Congress government which has resulted in
`hyper` inflation and `hyper` food inflation`," he said.
BJP would take out a rally at New Delhi on April 21 to
highlight and protest against the price hike. The party would
then submit a petition signed by over 10 crore people
(protesting the price rise) from across the country to
President Pratibha Patil in May, he said.
Referring to the naxal issue, he said the BJP did not
want to politicise it. The BJP extended support to the UPA
government in its fight against naxalities, he said.
Attributing farmers` suicide in various parts of the
country to prevailing power and water shortage, he said the
only solution to the problem was to link rivers and as a first
step, the Ganga and Cauvery should be linked.
Gadkari alleged the Centre had failed miserably in all
segments of food management including research, development,
production, procurement, storage and distribution.
To a query, he said all types of future trading on
essential commodities should be banned.
"100 percent. I demand it (ban). As far as essential
commodities are concerned, it should be banned from all types
of trading... Already I have demanded that from the
Government," Gadkari said.
BJP`s main priority was to increase agriculture
development, increase cold storage facilities and godowns
particularly in rural areas, he said.
On strengthening BJP in Tamil Nadu, Gadkari said he had
decided to focus on reviving the party in states like Tamil
Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
"In Karnataka the party which started from just one MLA
now has a majority (ruling the state) and that is an ideal
example for Tamil Nadu. I am hopeful, in due course of time,
we will get good support from the people of Tamil Nadu," he
said, adding, BJP had also won the recent Bangalore city
corporation elections.
PTI
