Govt prepares to turn the tables on Oppn over price rise, inflation

NEW DELHI: The opposition parties keep targeting the BJP government at the Centre for rising inflation in the country. Since July 18, when the Monsoon session of Parliament opened, the opposition has been incessantly creating a ruckus in both the houses of the Parliament demanding a discussion on the issue of GST on food items and inflation.

Leaving aside the proceedings of July 28 and 29 (when there was an uproar in both houses over the statement of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury), for eight consecutive days, there was a commotion in the Parliament over inflation and GST.

The opposition parties may feel that they can expose the government by discussing inflation and GST imposed on food items, but instead of being defensive about the matter, the government is batting it aggressively. While the leaders of opposition parties are preparing to grill the government with their list of questions, BJP and and its ministers have geared up for the duel.

A senior minister told IANS that the opposition is extracting political mileage from the issues of inflation and GST. The opposition ministers of their respective state governments supported the proposal for GST in the GST Council meeting but outside, these political parties pretend to oppose. He said that if the issue is raised in the House, then the opposition will be exposed.

The BJP has a long list of questions ready for discussion in the Parliament. The government will put forth the questions to the parties that are creating an uproar - primarily Congress, TMC, TRS, DMK, AAP and Left - about what their state governments have done so far to bring relief to people in the face of inflation.

Why did their state governments not reduce VAT on petrol and diesel as on the lines of NDA governments? Regarding the political ruckus over GST imposed on food items, the government is ready to question the opposition about how the ministers of the state governments of Congress, TMC, TRS, DMK, AAP and Left allowed the GST Council to pass this resolution unanimously.

"After all, what kind of politics is this that the same resolution which the ministers unanimously passed in the GST Council meeting are now opposing it vehemently and not allowing the proceedings of the house to continue," the source said.

It is learnt that citing the rate of inflation during UPA regiem, the government will also stand by the fact that despite the global crisis, due to the efforts of the Modi government, the inflation rate in India has remained between 4-6 per cent on an average.

In contrast, the rate of inflation has increased from one-and-a-half per cent to 11 per cent in America and European countries. Despite all the difficulties and global problems, the rate of inflation in India is around 7 per cent which is very low as compared to the global situation.

After two weeks of uproar in the Parliament, on Monday, the issue of inflation would be discussed in Lok Sabha under Rule-193. Notice has been given by Congress MP Manish Tewari and Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut to discuss the issue of inflation under Rule 193, which has been accepted.

The opposition parties may want to corner the government on the pretext of this discussion, but the source is confident that BJP, which specialises in surprising the opposition parties, is now working on a strategy to expose the opposition by raising counter-questions on the same issue.