Congress hits out at Jaitley over remarks defending rail fare hike

New Delhi: Congress today took a dig at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for saying that the steep hike in railway passenger fares and freight rates was a `difficult but correct decision".

Latching on to a purported tweet by Narendra Modi last year on the issue of railway fare hike in which he is said to have remarked that "issues like price rise don`t concern them (Congress)", the party`s Communication Department Chairman Ajay Maken questioned the NDA government`s stand on the matter now. "Issues like price rise don`t concern them. They don`t want to solve anything because of their arrogance" Modi Ji tweeted-26/10/13, What Now?," Maken said in a tweet today. Talking to reporters at AICC, Maken further said, "Does what Jaitley said today also smack of the same arrogance which Modiji had mentioned in 2013?" Talking about the 14.2 per cent increase in passenger fares and 6.5 per cent hike in freight rates, Jaitley had said that the railways can survive only if users pay to avail facilities. "The passenger services have been subsidised by the freight traffic. In recent years, even freight fares have come under pressure," he had said.