Congress president Sonia Gandhi came out strongly in defence of the Union government’s decision to allow FDI in retail and increase the price of fuel here on Thursday. She also claimed it was in the forefront of the fight against corruption.
Mrs Gandhi, addressing the Congress party convention in Mangalore, attempted to explain the rising prices, saying India was feeling the impact of the worsening global economy. The price of had increased and 80 per cent of it was imported, she pointed out. “We continue to subsidise kerosene, but we have been compelled to increase the price of cooking gas and diesel,” she added.
“The state governments too have responsibility. When Congress-ruled state governments have incre-ased the ceiling of LPG from six to nine, why haven’t the BJP-ruled states? Why haven’t they reduced VAT on diesel,” she asked.
“FDI in retail is another area where the BJP is attacking us. But, ironically, the NDA government was interested in bringing in the same policy,” she recalled, adding, “We want our farmers to get better prices. Claiming the UPA had chalked out programmes to fight graft, she said, “No other party has done what the Congress has done to fight corruption. We brought in RTI and it is through this that many scams are being exposed,” adding, “We wanted to pass the Lokpal Bill too, but the BJP stop-ped it in the RS. Do they want to fight corruption or are they just pretending to fight corruption?”