After Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP MP Ashwini Choubey says he`s never tasted onions

Ashwini Choubey, who is Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said that since he has never tasted onion it is impossible for him to know about the rising prices of staple food in the market.

New Delhi: A day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday (December 4)that she belongs to a family which does not each much onions and garlic, another BJP leder and Union Minister Ashwini Choubey on Thursday (December 5) that he is a vegetarian and has never eaten onions.

Choubey, who is Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, said that since he has never tasted onion it is impossible for him to know about the rising prices of staple food in the market.

"I am a vegetarian. I have never tasted an onion. So, how will a person like me know about the situation (market prices) of onions," said the BJP MP.

Earlier on Thursday, Congress leader P Chidambaram mocked Sitharaman and said, "I thought the Finance Minister said yesterday she does not eat onions, she is not bothered... What does she eat? Does she eat avocado? She does not eat onions."

On Wednesday, Sitharaman had said, "I don't eat much of onion-garlic. I come from such a family which doesn't have much to do with onion. Onion price surge was due to factors such as a reduction in the area of cultivation and production," she said. The Union Finance Minister had also claimed that several measures have been taken by BJP-led government at the Centre to check the steep rise in onion prices.

"Steps are being taken other than procurement," she told Lok Sabha while replying to the debate on Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2019-20 where she also said export of onions have been banned and tender have been floated for its import.