Rajnath demands white paper on price hike of essential commodities

Kashipur, Apr 24 (UNI) BJP president Rajnath Singh today demanded that the UPA government issue a white paper on the soaring prices of essential commodities.

Talking to reporters here, the BJP supremo alleged the prices of essential commodities under the UPA regime were skyrocketing and breaking all previous records.

'' By seeing the indifferent attitude of the UPA government towards such a sensitive issue it looks its economical management has crashed,'' he said.

Mr Singh expressed surprise that the Left parties and other allied parties of the UPA government were not exerting pressure on it to look into the problem and keep the prices in check.

''I do not understand that despite government's claim of inflation rate going down, prices are going up,'' he said.

Expressing concern over increasing Maoist influence in Nepal, Mr Singh said with Uttaranchal sharing its border with the mountainous nation it has become a sensitive area in the security context '' as Maoist links with the ISI cannot be ruled out''. He urged the Centre to be more vigilant and take up the issue seriously.

Answering queries on the Nepal issue, Mr Singh said the UPA government had reacted to the situation in the Himalayan kingdom very late in the day.

He asserted the Left was not only influencing UPA government's policies but also its foreign policy. The matter should be discussed in an all-party meeting, he said, maintaining that full democracy should be restored in the neighbouring country.

UNI XC RL KP1834