BJP asks govt to roll back fuel price hike

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday slammed the price-control measures announced by the Manmohan Singh government, terming them as “too little, too late,” and came out with its five-point programme, including a complete roll-back in fuel prices, to rein in prices of essential commodities.

The party said it would intensify its agitation. A three-member panel comprising former president Venkaiah Naidu, general secretaries Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar, has been set up to hammer out a strategy to corner the ruling combine on the issue.

Charging the Manmohan Singh government with mismanaging the economy, which had triggered the crisis, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar reeled out figures to buttress his argument. “Out of the total revenue receipts of the Union government, 21% came from petro-products.

Of the total excise collection, 44% came from the petroleum sector. This is not only ridiculous, but also unparalleled the world over,” he said, adding that there is an urgent need for duty-restructuring.

The party wanted the government to stick to a five-point agenda to bring prices under control. “The hike in the prices of petrol and diesel should be withdrawn as it has had a cascading effect on prices of other commodities.

The government should allow sale of edible oil and pulses through PDS outlets without reducing their quantity and hiking prices,” the BJP spokesman said.

He also wanted the Centre to act against wheat horders, including firms like Monsanto, Cargill and Reliance, which had been allowed to import wheat. He also called for setting up a regulatory mechanism for the National Commodity and Regulatory Exchange.

With anger mounting against the government’s inability to check prices, it is clear that the BJP wants to take full political advantage of this resentment. Its gameplan, however, has been hampered by the absence of a consistent programme.

After undertaking a high-pitch campaign after the latest increase in fuel-prices, which culminated in former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former party president L K Advani and other senior NDA leaders courting arrest, the BJP withdrew into a shell.

The spurt in prices of essential commodities, including that of vegetables, has given the party another opportunity to corner the ruling combine, and reinforce its position as an aggressive opposition. The BJP spokesman also asked the Manmohan Singh government to come clean on its dealings with the US on the import of wheat.

“Conditions for wheat import were relaxed to accommodate the interests of Washington,” he alleged. The party also lashed out at the Left parties for staging “pseudo-demonstrations,” on the subject. “You cannot fool all the people all the time. The people will see through your nefarious designs,” Mr Javadekar asserted.