Left walks out of Lok Sabha on price rise

New Delhi, Mar 18 (UNI) The Left parties today embarrassed the Centre by staging a walkout in the Lok Sabha, protesting against the ''political victimisation'' of their governments in West Bengal and Kerala in the matter of rice and wheat quota under the public distribution system and the failure to check the rising prices of essential commodities.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta said the ''unabated and unbearable'' price rise and the steep cut in PDS allocations had hit hard the people of Kerala and West Bengal.

The ''speculative economy'' put in place by the UPA government was ''showing its teeth,'' while Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who had promised fiscal measures, had ''completely failed'' to control the price rise, he said.

Mr Rupchand Pal (CPI-M) said the rice allocation to Kerala had been cut by 88 per cent and wheat quota to West Bengal by 50 per cent. People across the country were reeling under the spiralling inflation, particularly the rise in the prices of foodgrains.

MLAs from the two states and Tripura were staging a dharna in the capital and wanted to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.

UNI SN RR GC1340