Govt not taking appropriate measures to tackle onion crisis: Congress

The Congress on Friday attacked the Centre over spiralling onion prices, accusing it of not taking appropriate measures to tackle the crisis.

In a press conference here, the party's Rajya Sabha member Amee Yajnik said the government has "failed utterly" in handling the matter.

"The government has failed utterly in this issue. What is the problem with the government? It seems that they know the problem about the hoarders and where these onions are stored but they are not ready to hit at the particular point...," Yajnik said.

Accusing the government of politicising the issue, Yajnik said, "Neither you (government) have a short term policy nor you have long term policy for onion, you want to make it a political issue so that all other issues are forgotten."

Another MP Chhaya Verma alleged that there seems to be a nexus between the people who are behind this inflation and the government.

Blaming the BJP government for making people cry over the soaring onion prices, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, "Onion prices have really rocked the country. It has played with the budget of families and it is necessary to talk about it.

"Onions are still being imported at Rs 27 per kilogram only and is being sold at Rs 120-130. This shows that the hoarders and middlemen have the protection from the government for which public has to pay a huge cost.