Ahmedabad: Gujarat chief minister Narendra
Modi on Thursday had a dig at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on price
rise saying he would now write a letter in Italian to draw
Centre's attention towards the issue.
"I have written number of letters to Central Government
on the issue of price rise. I have written letters in the
language they can understand urging them to take steps to do
something about the rising prices of food items," Modi said.
"But, I think that they have no empathy for the poor
people and it seems that they are not willing to take steps to
control rising prices," he said, adding, "Now, I need to write
a letter in Italian."
Modi was speaking at a Garib Kalyan Mela in Patan
district.
"They (Centre) had organised a meeting on the issue of
price rise. But have now postponed it saying that they
have some other work. I don't understand what work is more
important than addressing the issue of price rise," Modi
said.
"Keeping poor people hungry in this manner will lead to
nemesis of the Central government," Modi said.
Garib Kalyan Mela is brainchild of Modi to provide direct
benefit of schemes meant for poor without involving middlemen.
"Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said that if
Central government release one rupee for poor, only 10 paise
reaches them. By organising such melas I have tried to solve
this problem," Modi said.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 28, 2010, 23:23