NDA to raise price rise issue on February 27 in Parliament

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) Opposition NDA today decided to raise issue of price rise, inflation and its impact on the common man on February 27 in Parliament at the first available opportunity in the Budget Session commencing from tomorrow.

A strategy session of NDA parties at the residence of NDA Chairman and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to concentrate on the issue of prices of essential commodities which had gone beyond the reach of the common man due to high inflation.

At the same time, farmers were committing suicides unable to secure fair returns for their produce, the NDA said.

BJP Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the high prices were basically a result of a corrupt system and wrong handling of the economy by the government. The Opposition would expose the hollowness in the claim of the government of having checked prices which had hit the roof, he remarked.

Besides price rise, he said the NDA would raise soft handling by the UPA of the terrorism and internal security issues and stoutly oppose Foreign Direct Investment in Retail sector. There were also moves by the Government to bring down the interest rates of the Public Provident Fund and Employees Provident Fund earned by the workers and bring this saving under the Income Tax rule. The NDA would be oppose these moves tooth and nail in Parliament, he added.

The MPs had sent notices to Parliament Secretariat under rule 184 and 193 seeking discussion on numerous issues in the 42-day session. He did not rule out the NDA coming out with a notice for an Adjournment Motion because it had to be moved on the same day. The coalition partners did not discuss the matter today.

He said the NDA would await the move of the Government about rescheduling of the Parliament session in view of the declaration of UP Assembly election dates by the Election Commission. The NDA did not want time reduced for discussions and was not expecting any change in the first phase of the Budget Session.

The meeting was attended by Mr L K Advani and Jaswant Singh, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, NDA Convenor George Fernandes, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav, Mr B K Tripathi of the BJD, Mr Anant Geete and Mr Manohar Joshi of Shiv Sena and BJP President Rajnath Singh and his predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu.

UNI