Blame game in Parliament over prices, Lok Sabha adjourned

The issue of price rise rocked Parliament on the opening day of budget session today with the Lok Sabha's business washed away on opposition protest while in  Rajya Sabha the government shifted blame on the "weak kneed" policies of the UPA regime for the current situation.

"Government is committed to containing it (inflation) because we consider it a serious and sensitive matter.  There is sufficient supply (of potato and onion) and therefore there is no reason for panic," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Rajya Sabha.

He was replying to an impromptu discussion in the House on the price situation for which the entire opposition ridiculed the attacked the government for its handling of the situation.

Not satisfied with his reply, the Congress led a walk out of the opposition members that included those from included from BSP, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M).

They also ridiculed the BJP and NDA's poll slogan of "achchey din ayega" (good days are coming) and wondered whether the rise in prices of food items like onion and potato, hike in rail fares and freight and oil prices was a reflection of the promised good days.

The Lok Sabha was repeatedly adjourned after the Congress and other parties insisted on a discussion on the prices on an adjournment motion and not a discussion without voting, which the Speaker offered.

During the short-duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha, the government put all the blame for the food prices and the hike in rail fares and oil prices on the previous government saying it had inherited a "legacy" from it.

In his reply, Jaitley said the 41-day-old Narendra Modi government had taken immediate steps to contain prices of food items unlike the previous dispensation during whose regime the cost of onion rose even up to Rs.100.

He said the government was being attacked even though it was yet to outline its financial road map in the rail budget to be presented tomorrow and the general budget on Thursday.

Prices of food items are under control and there is no need for panic, he said.