CPM questions Modi's silence on price rise in Gujarat

Bhavnagar (Guj), Nov 18: Questioning Gujarat Chief Minister

's silence on the rise in prices of essential commodities,

MP

on Sunday lashed out at him at a rally here. "Narendra Modi is asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh why is he silent on rising prices. But why is Narendra Modi silent on rise in prices of essential commodities in Gujarat?

"The price of milk has been hiked sixteen times since 2006, while that of edible oil has seen 300 per cent rise. There has been unprecedented rise in power tariffs also," Karat said. 'Vibrant Gujarat' event was only for corporates and the rich, while the poor and the marginalised had been left to fend for themselves, she said.

"Why is Modi silent when the Supreme Court and Gujarat High Court have said that the state government's Rs 8,000 crore gift to Essar, a corporate giant, was 'illegal'?" the CPM politburo member asked. She also took on Modi for allegedly spending crores of rupees on campaigning through 3-D telecast technology.

"When the state government has done nothing, it has to resort to such tactics. To magnify whatever little work it has done, the state is spending crores on 3-D technology," she alleged. Gujarat was lagging behind on social indicators such as hunger, malnutrition, payment of wages and food security, she said.

Terming the next month's Assembly polls as an opportunity for people of Gujarat to oust the Modi-led BJP government, Karat said Modi should be ashamed that former state Home Minister Amit Shah was in jail in a fake encounter case, former minister Maya Kodnani was convicted for involvement in 2002 riots, and senior police officers too were behind bars.

PTI