Congress 'laughing' at rise in retail rates of key commodities: Shahnawaz Hussain

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain on Wednesday said his party would continue to rake up the issue of price rise in Parliament, and slammed the ruling Congress for being tight-lipped on the appreciation of the retail rates of key commodities.

Hussain used the example of onion, which is touching an unbelievable retail rate of Rs. 80 per kilogram in some parts of Delhi, to target the Delhi Congress saying that though it was the increase in onion prices that brought them into power, the state government is now refusing to comment on the present hike.

"The onion prices are on fire. The whole country is in distress because of the soaring onion prices. Meanwhile, the Congress is laughing at their misery. The Delhi Congress, who used the rising price of onion to come into power, are refusing to comment on the rising prices today. ...We will take up their inaction on the price rise in Parliament," Hussain said.

Earlier, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar criticized the Government for being apathetic in taking action to curb prices.

"The price of onion is increasing day by day. This is because the government is refusing to react. We want an answer from the government," Javadekar said.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar said: "This is an issue of concern. It won't be wrong to say that middlemen are taking advantage of this.

He also said that he did not foresee a shortage of onions, as it is being imported from many states like Rajasthan.

The average wholesale price of onions has more than doubled since the beginning of this month.

Delhi gets its onions from three states at this time. In Maharashtra, the wholesale price of onion was about Rs. 50 per kg which, when brought to Delhi, went up by Rs. 5 per kg after factoring in cost of transport and other overheads. In Rajasthan, the crop is at its fag end while in Madhya Pradesh only about 15 per cent of the crop remains.

Experts say the trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon and the earliest respite can be expected around the end of September.