Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: With food inflation getting out of control, the issue finally reached the Parliament Wednesday. Opposition parties led by the BJP, Left and the SP put the UPA government on the mat for its inability to control the rise in prices of essential items.
The Opposition accused the government for not doing enough and pointed out that it has completely failed to control price rise.
While NDA members chanted "mehangai ko rok do, warna
gaddi chor do (stop price rise or give up power)", SP members
were shouting slogans like "luuli langdi yeh sarkar, nahi
chalegi, nahi chalegi (lame government cannot run)".
Following the vociferous protests from Opposition parties, both the Houses of the Parliament were first adjourned till 12 pm then, in view of the continuing protests, Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.
As per the latest official data, food inflation has showed an increase of 19.04%. Moreover, the Wholesale Price–based index (WPI) inflation for November shot up to 4.78% from 1.34% in the previous month.
Prices of individual food items are almost double from the levels they were a year ago. Potato has doubled since last year; aggregate vegetable prices are also up 17% – onion 32.4%. Sugar is up 53.8%, rice gained 11.75%, wheat 12.6%, fruits 13%, and milk about 11.4%. The price of pulses, primary source of proteins for most Indians, has gone up by 35.2%, with prices of certain dals even crossing the Rs 100/kg mark for the first time ever.
In the Lok Sabha, as soon as the proceedings for the day began, members from Opposition parties trooped
into the Well and protested in front of Speaker Meira Kumar.
The members belonging to BJP, Left, SP, BSP and Shiv Sena
members raised slogans, saying the prices of essential
commodities were witnessing an increase since the UPA came to
power at the Centre.
In the din, TDP members raised slogans against creation of
Telangana and demanded a unified Andhra Pradesh, even as their
floor leader Nama Nageswara Rao was not present.
Kumar said that she has rejected their notice for
suspension of the Question Hour as the House had already
debated the price rise issue in this session.
When members did not heed to the Chair's repeated pleas to
resume their seats, Kumar adjourned the House for 30 minutes. As matters did not improve even after the House was reconvened, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha where
Opposition members were on their feet even before Chairman
Hamid Ansari could settle in his seat.
M V Mysura Reddy and Nandamuri Harikrishna (both TDP)
trooped into the Well demanding a statement from the
Government on the Telangana issue.
They said Andhra Pradesh cannot be divided. A few
Congress members from Andhra Pradesh countered them.
Main Opposition BJP, Left and SP were on their feet
raising slogans against price rise.
After five minutes of pandemonium, the House was
adjourned for 30 minutes and later reconvened amidst continuing pandemonium.
First Published: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 19:14