New Delhi: Holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government “directly responsible for the high inflation”, Congress veteran and former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday took the ruling dispensation to task over the rise in prices of petrol, LPG and pulses.


He said that the Congress Party would raise the issue of inflation in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament.


Continuing his outburst, the Congress leader alleged the Centre is “pretending” that price rise is a “false concern”.


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Expressing concerns over the high rate of unemployment and wage cuts in the country, Chidambaram said: “In such a situation of widespread distress, inflation has broken the back of the people, and we hold the Central government under Narendra Modi directly responsible for the high inflation.”


Asserting that the fuel prices and GST rates be reduced, Chidambaram demanded a review of the import duties to reduce the crushing burden of high inflation.


Chidambaram said the Centre has continually increased the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG despite “stout opposition”.


“None of these prices is justified by the price of crude oil which is around $75 a barrel. When crude oil price was $125, the UPA government was able to provide petrol at Rs 65 per litre and diesel at Rs 44 per litre,” he added.


Lambasting the Centre for increasing import duties on several goods despite a “downward trend in the value of the rupee”, the former finance minister called the Goods and Services Tax (GST) “a regressive tax” with “irrational” rates.


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Pointing out that that the inflation was not caused by a rise in demand or liquidity but due to “the wrong policies of the government and its inept management of the economy”, Chidambaram asked: “Will the government please tell the people what they should eat, how they should light their homes and how they should go to work?”


“Let me caution the government: the issue of high inflation will not go away if you pretend it does not exist,” he added.