Yashwant Sinha leads Oppn charge: Cut prices,or for Gods sake,go

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to respond to the debate in the Lok Sabha tomorrow.

Warning the government against treating Lok Sabha as talking shop,Sinha asked it to check rising prices and ensure that the House need not debate this issue again in the winter session. He cited an independent credit rating agencys recent report that claimed that households across the country were forced to incur an additional expenditure of over Rs 6 lakh crore during 2008-09 and 2010-11 because of inflation.

The worst form of taxation on the poor is price rise because they cannot escape it, Sinha reminded respected economist Prime Minister.

Stating that the inflation rate stood at 3.4 per cent during the 2002-03 drought,under the NDA regime,he said: Growth with moderate inflation is acceptable. You should pursue growth if you have the wherewithal to control rising prices. But if rising prices are inevitable as part of your growth,we do not need that kind of growth.

He added that the country will not accept inflation of more than 3 per cent. He also highlighted the limitations of the monetary policy in tackling food inflation,and asked the government to restore confidence in the business community,pointing out the 11-time rate hike by the RBI since March 2010 had raised the cost of capital and slowed down growth.

I lost mine (election in 2004) when I failed to listen to the poor old woman in my constituency on price rise. Those who do not contest elections remain happy,but,I am talking about those who contest elections, said Sinha,in a veiled attack on the PM.

Defending the government,Law Minister Salman Khrusheed highlighted the governments success in tiding over the global economic recession. We are not obsessed with the dictum of growth at any cost. But,we need growth to generate resources to lift people out of poverty, he said.

Meanwhile,the BJP came under attack from CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh for its alleged deal with the government to exclude the governments failure to curb price rise in the motion.

While JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav sought relief to farmers from the diesel price rise,leaders from other parties urged the government to act against the middlemen and hoarders to contain rising prices effectively.