Even as the rupee hurtled down vis-a-vis dollar and petrol prices saw yet another steep hike, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fired yet another salvo against the Manmohan Singh Government questioning its ability to control prices and contain the fall of the Indian currency.
Targeting the Government’s decision to hike the prices of petrol and diesel Banerjee wrote on the Facebook that UPA Government was dead and its economy was on red alert. When the “people are unfed” the UPA Government had again brought a “hike in petrol and diesel prices”, Banerjee wrote warning the economy was “in red”. She added the “UPA is dead.” Her reactions came close on the heels of the Government decision for an upward revision of petrol and diesel prices.
The Chief Minister who had walked out of the UPA-II regime a year ago after their turbulent marriage broke down on a host of issues like petrol price hike, FDI in retail trade, Centre’s alleged refusal to bail out a debt-ridden Bengal had a couple of days ago called herself “fortunate to come out of the UPA at the nick of time.”
Decrying the continuous fall of rupee, Banerjee charged “some people” in Delhi with trying to sell out the country to the foreign interests. “To please a few countries, some people are pursuing a policy that will eventually sell out the country,” she earlier told the reporters. Banerjee, who had also criticised the new land acquisition laws necessitating consent of 80 per cent farmers for acquiring a given plot by the Government, wondered as to why Delhi was hurrying through the legislations on an elections year.
Blasting the Government for its bizarre silence “on issues like the fall of rupee and rising prices of essential commodities,” Banerjee said, “Sooner this Government goes the better” as India needed a Government that would take care of the common people, particularly the poor. “This is a rich only Government,” she said.