Govt has totally failed to contain price rise: Dasgupta

New Delhi, Aug 22 (UNI) The Left today opened yet another front to castigate the UPA government, with Mr Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) charging the UPA in the Lok Sabha with ''total failure'' in checking the price rise of essential commodities.

Raising the matter during the zero hour, Mr Dasgupta said the poor people were grappling with an ''unprecedented price rise'' for the past one year.

Prices of every single item which was necessary for livelihood had gone up, while a recent study had shown that 860 million people were earning less than Rs 20 a day each, he said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had assured the House that the government was taking all steps, including monetary, to contain the prices, but the government had ''totally failed'' on this front, the CPI leader said.

Most of the members from the Left and the opposition, besides some from the UPA allies, wanted to associate themselves on the issue, prompting Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to state that the entire House was one on the issue.

Earlier, the Left parties had threatened to withdraw their outside support to the UPA government unless the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal was put on hold.

They were also highly critical of the government for allowing Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, prime accused in the Bofors payoff case, to escape from Argentina to his home country.

UNI