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New Delhi: The opposition and Left parties yesterday sharply criticised the federal government for what they termed as its gross inability in taming prices that have pushed India's annual inflation rate to a 41-month high.
The members of the Left parties and the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) staged a protest march to parliament, demanding more measures to curb prices and stern action against hoarders of essential commodities.
They demanded an immediate ban on forward trading in commodities, re-evaluation and strengthening of the public distribution system and the lowering of taxes on petroleum so that prices of transport and cooking fuels can be brought down.
Soon after, the stage shifted to inside parliament where members of the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disrupted proceedings in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, forcing the respective chairs to adjourn the houses.
Protests
"Those who are raising slogans will be dealt with properly. I am not going to permit any such thing," Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said. But he was forced to adjourn the house for an hour after opposition members refused to budge.
The protests had started in the morning immediately after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced some of his new ministers, including M.S. Gill, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Raghunath Jha, V. Narayansamy, Satish Bagrodia and Rameshwar Oraon.
An assurance from Finance Minister P. Chidambaram of more steps to rein in the price rise - that has pushed the annual rate of inflation to 7.41 per cent for the week that ended on March 29 - was of no avail.
"I do not know when the Cabinet Committee on Prices will meet but when it meets, I expect some measures," Chidambaram told reporters, referring to a meeting that was to have been presided over by Manmohan Singh yesterday.
Even Commerce Minister Kamal Nath made an appeal to state governments to crack down on hoarders, saying they were responsible for creating artificial shortage of commodities and creating inflationary expectations.
"The state governments must ensure that there is no food hoarding, there is no profiteering," he told reporters after a meeting with a trade delegation from Egypt here.
The situation was no different in the upper house, where Left members joined the opposition in raising slogans against the government. Chairman Hamid Ansari was also forced to adjourn the house.
Opposition adamant
"Price rise is the only question today," senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said, making it clear that the opposition was not willing to discuss any other issue but prices.
When the two houses resumed, there was not much change in the situation. Only the Rajya Sabha took up some statutory business for some 15 minutes.
The respective presiding officers were forced to adjourn the two houses for the day.
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