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Price rise: AAP blasts finance minister Sitharaman, says everything looks ‘goody goody’ to her

Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Indian parliament in New Delhi on Monday, August 1, 2022. (ANI Photo/Sansad TV)

By: PTI

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday (3) hit out at Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the price rise issue and said everything appears “goody-goody” to her but the common people should be asked if it really is so.

The party said the minister would know well what she wanted to prove with her reply in both the Houses of Parliament on the price rise issue but the common people are facing the brunt of inflation.

Retail inflation rate has been hovering around 7 per cent for several months, driven by a surge in prices of food, fuel and many essential goods of consumption.

“The finance minister did not accept that the value of Indian rupee is falling (against the dollar). She did not accept that the prices of food items have increased,” AAP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member of parliament Sanjay Singh told a press conference.

“Everything appears goody goody to her. Ask the common people if everything is goody goody in their lives,” he said.

Singh said “good days” have only come for all the BJP leaders and those from the party holding ministerial berths, but the common people are still waiting to see such days in their lives.

“Has achche din (good days) come into the lives of labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers and those living in slums?” he asked.

Latching onto Sitharaman’s response on the issue of rise in onion prices in 2019, the AAP leader said, “She is great. When the price of onions rose, she said she doesn’t eat onion.”

“How will she see price rise? You ask her how the price of milk increased and she will reply she doesn’t drink milk. You ask her about the rise in the prices of wheat, dal, rice, and she will say she is living by eating carrots and radish,” Singh added.

Replying to a debate on price rise in the Rajya Sabha or the Upper House of the parliament on Tuesday (2), the finance minister put a strong defence of her handling of inflation as she compared current prices to rates existing six months before the United Progressive Alliance exited power, and said the GST (Goods and Services Tax) regime has not increased the tax burden on the families.

With the opposition breathing fire over a rise in the prices of daily essentials, Sitharaman compared the current price of tomato, onion and potato with that prevalent in November 2013 to say the rates are stable.

On Monday (1), the finance minister acknowledged in the Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the parliament that the country faces inflationary pressure but said that the Union government has been able to contain it below seven per cent despite problems like Covid-19 and Omicron.

Efforts are being made to bring down retail inflation below seven per cent, she had told the House while replying to a debate on price rise.

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