High prices of essential items prove costly for BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed credit for lowering prices of petrol, diesel and other essential items while campaigning for Delhi polls, but the Agricultural Produce Market Committee data from Asia’s largest Azadpur mandi showed prices of vegetables and fruits, in fact, had risen close to 100 per cent.

On Tuesday, after a landslide victory for AAP in Delhi, most of the analysts and experts said that soaring prices of essential commodities was one of the reasons for BJP’s rout.

Addressing an election rally in Dwarka in West Delhi on February 1, Modi had said, “if my luck is benefiting the people and they are saving some money because prices of diesel and petrol and other essential commodities have come down, then why have an unlucky government”.

The next day, the data from largest fruit and vegetable mandi said, between January 31, 2014 and January 30, 2015, the wholesale price of peas rose 106 per cent, spinach by 94 per cent, carrots by 89 per cent, beans by 68 per cent and so on.

Did BJP fail to read the pulse of price-sensitive voters in Delhi?  “A new aspiration class lies at the bottom of pyramid and not the conventional middle class…. This somehow has felt left out of the mainstream,” President of Assocham Rana Kapoor said soon after the historic verdict.

“They (the aspirational class) want results immediately when it comes to basics of life — water, electricity, roads and safety of citizens,” he said.

“The sharp drop in petrol and diesel could not translate into lowering of prices in other essential commodities, particularly food and vegetable,” some BJP leaders were found discussing before results although no none came on record after the results.

“Delhi voters want the soaring prices of essential commodities checked, the runaway electricity and water bills and corruption be curbed and above all they want the promises to be delivered soon,” said a voter from New Delhi constituency, who voted in favour of AAP.

The promise made by Modi to bring back black money and deposit Rs 15 lakh into the bank account of every Indian too seemed to have rubbed the BJP wrongly.

A voter from Chandni Chowk constituency from where AAP won, said, “Modi made empty promises”.