UPA commiting fraud on 'Aam Aadmi': BJP

New Delhi, Apr 11 (UNI) The BJP today accused the UPA Government of playing the biggest fraud on the "Aam Aadmi", the plank on which it contested the election and alleged that the Government was not serious to control price rise.

"It is now evident that UPA government has miserably failed to control inflation and price rise. UPA is commiting the biggest fraud on the interest of ''Aam Aadmi'' whose cause it claims to represent. The Government is not serious on the issue of price rise" BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the party's daily briefing.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not bother to call a meeting of Chief Ministers of various states to take proper 'all India' measures. "Inflation of 7.4 per cent is on wholesale price index. The retail price index is all the more," he said.

Ascribing the mismanagement of food economy as the real reason behind the price rise, Mr Prasad claimed that the coming months were going to be more 'critical and crucial' and the UPA would have to pay a heavy price for the 'gross neglect' of 'Aam Aadmi'.

He said the prices of almost all commodities were likely to go up in coming months.

He said the NDA regime had also witnessed the worst draught in 14 years but it had taken timely steps like making available fertilizers and seeds to kisans all over the country.

Unlike the UPA Government which was discriminating against the opposition parties-led governments in States, he said the NDA measures were uniformally implemented in all states irrespective of the governments there. The Minimum Support Price (MSP) was increased by 25 per cent across the border.

"This resulted in increase in foodgrain production by 20 million tonnes, from 202 million tonnes in 1998 to 222 in 2004," he said, adding the country gad a surplus foodgrain situation.

While criticising the UPA government for the pathetic procurement of foodgrain reminscent of the 1970 situation, he said the NDA Government on the other hand had done record procurement of foodgrains and that foodgrains worth Rs 7,000 crore were exported to 25 countries.

When his attention was drawn to the accusation by Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal that the States were not cooperating with the Centre on the issue of inflation, Mr Prasad posed a counter question, saying the inflation in Delhi and Mumbai was also high.

Should it mean the Congress Governments in Delhi and Maharashtra were not cooperating with the Centre? he asked.

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