Pay for what you use: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: A day before the BJP government presented the Railway Budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley squarely blamed the Congress-led UPA government for the rise in prices of food items like onion and potato as well as the hike in rail fares and diesel cost.

Mr Jaitley, who will be presenting the Union Budget on Thursday, assured the House that his government was committed to containing inflation and there was no reason for panic.
Calling ‘’inflation’’ a legacy of the UPA, Mr Jaitley said, “Prices for some commodities rise because of lack of supply, it is not possible to fill the gaps (which Congress left) in five weeks. “What surprises me is that the party which brought the economy to this state wants to put the blame on someone else today,” he added.

“The fair hike which has happened is your (UPA’s) legacy. Whether we hike it or not, you will get to know tomorrow,” he said while addressing the Congress benches which led the Opposition charge in Rajya Sabha during a discussion on price rise on the first day of the Budget Session of Parliament. He also said that if people are using a service, they should pay for it.

Referring to rise in prices of food items, Mr Jaitley said, “The government is committed to containing it (inflation) because we consider it a serious and sensitive matter. There is sufficient supply (of potato and onion) and there is no reason for panic.”

Mr Jatiley said the UPA didn’t take tough decisions when it needed to. “My UPA friends must understand what situation they left the Railways in. The Railways has been left in tatters by the UPA government and the Congress now wants to pass on blame, he said. He said the 41-day-old Narendra Modi government had taken immediate steps to contain prices of food items unlike the previous dispensation during which cost of onion rose even up to Rs 100 per kilo.

“The UPA used to wake up after prices had already risen. We started taking steps immediately when the prices touched Rs 25 per kg,” he said.