Wrong policies of UPA responsible for price rise: Karat
By IANSWednesday, February 9, 2011
NEW DELHI - The “wrong policies” of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) were responsible for the rise in food prices, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said Wednesday while accusing the government of weakening the public distribution system (PDS).
Addressing a rally against food inflation and corruption, organised by the non-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) opposition parties, Karat said prices of food items had soared considerably.
Prices of all food items have skyrocketed. The wrong policies of the government are responsible for this, he said.
Karat said the price of petrol had gone up seven times since June last year.
No steps are being taken to stop speculative trading. In whose interest is the UPA government functioning, he asked.
The CPI-M leader said the PDS should have been strengthened and rice, wheat, sugar and other items made available at cheap price. The government has weakened PDS, he said.
The rally was also addressed by leaders from some other opposition parties, including the Telugu Desam Party, the Communist Party of India, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Biju Janata Dal and the Janata Dal-Secular.
