Won't allow BJP to divert attention from public issues: Rahul on price rise amid Modi's UCC pitch

New Delhi, June 28 (IANS) Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday targetted the BJP-led Central government over the price of essential commodities, alleging that the BJP was busy increasing the wealth of the capitalists. 

He also listed the prices of tomatoes, vegetables and cooking gas, and said that the poor are yearning to eat while the middle class is struggling to save some money.

Rahul in a tweet said, "Tomato: Rs 140/kg, Cauliflower: Rs 80/kg, Toor Dal: Rs 148/kg, Branded Arhar Dal: Rs 219/kg and cooking gas cylinder above Rs 1,100. The BJP government is busy in increasing the wealth of the capitalists and collecting taxes from the public, forget the poor and middle class families."

Targeting the Central government, the former Lok Sabha MP said, "Youth are unemployed, if there is employment then income is very less and there are hardly any savings due to inflation. The poor are yearning to eat, the middle class is yearning to save."

"In the Congress-ruled states, we reduced the prices of gas to provide relief from inflation, put money in the accounts of the poor for financial assistance. Bharat Jodo Yatra is a pledge to remove hatred, remove inflation, unemployment and bring equality -- BJP will not be allowed to divert attention from public issues," he said in a veiled reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) ahead of the crucial state Assembly elections.

"For nine years there is still the same question. After all, to whom does this 'Amrit kaal' belong?" the Congress leader asked.

His remarks came a day after Modi while addressing BJP booth workers in Madhya Pradesh said that Muslims were being misled in the name of UCC.

“These days, people are being provoked by the UCC. You tell me, if there is one law for one person in a home, and another law for another person, can that house function?” he asked.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the Prime Minister over the issue of price rise, in an apparent dismissal of Modi's UCC pitch as a diversionary tactic.

"The Prime Minister read the list of inflation in Bhopal yesterday. But like the earlier lists, someone made that list wrong. In Madhya Pradesh petrol price: Rs 108 a litre, Tomato price: Rs 100 per kg, Price of pulses: Rs 150 per kg, Kitchen cylinder: Rs 1,130 per cylinder. The model of diverting the attention of the people from the price hike they are facing, neither worked in Himachal and Karnataka, nor will it work in Madhya Pradesh," Priyanka said in a tweet.

--IANSaks/khz