The Congress on Tuesday hit out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for attributing the rise in inflation partly to hoarding by traders. The Congress-led UPA Government, which was thrown out of power last month with skyrocketing price rise being one of the issues, accused the NDA Government for its inability to bring acche din. Achche din aane waale hain (Good days are about to come) was a prominent slogan of the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the lok Sabha polls.
AICC general secretary Ajay Maken said that when the BJP was in Opposition, it used to claim that corruption in Government was leading to rise in prices of commodities and asked if the party felt the same now when it was in power.
“Arun Jaitley has blamed hoarders for inflation and asked the State Governments to keep a check on hoarding to check inflation. This statement of Jaitley should also be seen in conjunction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that people should be ready to swallow bitter pills. BJP and the Government are trying to find excuses for non-performance because they are unable to fulfil hopes and aspirations of people about bringing ‘achche din’ (good days) as promised,” said Maken.
Maken said when Congress used to say hoarding, performance of the State Governments and international developments play an important role in price rise, the BJP never accepted the fact and blamed the UPA.
Attributing rise in inflation partly to withholding of food stocks by traders, Jaitley had on Monday said the Centre is committed to ease supply side bottlenecks and also asked States to take firm measures against hoarders to check speculation.
Maken also targeted the Prime Minister over his remarks on the State of economy that UPA Government had left. Maken, who also heads the Congress communication department, came out with figures claiming that it was much better during the UPA than what it was during the NDA rule in the past.
Maken stated, “Modi said the UPA Government has left empty coffers. We would like to tell the nation that the foreign exchange reserve in 2004 was `4.7 lakh crore and when we left power in 2014, it reached `18.72 lakh crore, a four-time increase.
“Similarly, the net export in 2004 was 2.83 lakh crore, which increased in 2014 to 18.80 lakh crore, a growth of nearly seven times. Per capita income increased from `24,000 to `69,000 annually, an increase of almost three times.”
Maken also attacked Modi over his Government’s decision to put on hold the appointment of private secretaries to some Union Ministers alleging it reflects his “double standard”. “This is unfortunate and this reflects Modi’s double standard. When it comes to appointing his Principal secretary (Nripendra Mishra), he resorts to an Ordinance, while he is not allowing the ministers to have their personal staffs. This is a minister’s prerogative to appoint his personal staff.”