Pranab calls for political consensus to tackle inflation

New Delhi, Aug 4: Effectively blunting the BJP-led Opposition's clamour against the government on the issue of price rise, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said there was a need for political consensus to tackle the inflation. He made the statement at the parliament while replying to the debate over the rising prices.

Insisting that there was no contradiction between growth and inflation, Mukherjee said, "India was never known to have a high growth rate." Stating that the government has provided relief to the impoverished section of the society, the senior Congress leader said, "We have brought inflation down from 22% to around 8%."

Earlier, speaking in the parliament, senior BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha asserted that the situation was becoming increasingly unbearable for the common man who might soon begin to ask the government to 'Go, for God's sake, Go'.

The former finance minister, who on Aug 3 initiated the debate on the issue of spiralling price rise, dismissed the government's argument that high growth rate will negate inflation. Arguing that such a growth was unacceptable to the people of the country, Sinha said, "We will not accept inflation of more than three per cent," and moved a resolution on price rise.

OneIndia News