Opposition walks out of Kerala assembly over price rise
June 24th, 2009 - 2:49 pm ICT by IANSThiruvananthapuram, June 24 (IANS) The Congress led opposition Wednesday walked out of the Kerala assembly after their adjournment motion plea to discuss the price rise in the state was shot down by the Speaker K. Radhakrishnan.
Moving the motion for adjournment, senior Congress legislator K.C. Joseph said the state government was a silent spectator to the price rise and it was not doing anything to bring down the prices of essential commodities.
Joseph quoted the prices of essential commodities over the last three years when the Left government assumed power and also gave the comparative prices prevailing on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
The leader of opposition Oommen Chandy before leading the opposition out of the house said that during the time they ruled the state from 2001-06, even though the then Left opposition conducted 22 state wide shutdowns, not one was on the issue of price rise.
“We used to make bulk purchases by effective market intervention whenever the situation demanded. We all know that you are now waiting for the price of petrol and diesel to be hiked so that like always you can blame others for your failure. You should realize that the current fuel price is lower than what it was when you took over in 2006,” said Chandy.
State Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran, however, dismissed the remarks of the opposition and maintained that the government was doing its job properly.
“Do you know that there are 3,000 state run shops that sell 13 essential items all across the state. No other state in the country is doing this. This year alone we have pumped in Rs.105 crore for market intervention and another Rs.228 crore for supplying rice at Rs.2 per kg,” said Divakaran.
Hitting back on Chandy, he said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is in the final stages of their inquiry to find out those responsible for loss to the state exchequer to the tune of Rs.134 crore during the Congress rule 2001-06.
“We will not run away and will face whatever issues are there,” Chandy said.
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Tags: adjournment motion, bulk purchases, cbi, central bureau of investigation, chandy, civil supplies minister, comparative prices, crore, fuel price, leader of opposition, left opposition, legislator, market intervention, petrol, radhakrishnan, rs 2, shutdowns, spectator, state exchequer, state food
