Click to play videoNew Delhi: The price rise debate continued in Parliament on the fourth day of the Monsoon Session on Thursday. A day after the government came under attack over rising prices, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee put up the UPA's defence in the Lok Sabha.
Replying to a debate in Lok Sabha on price rise, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave details of various steps the government had taken to rein in inflation but did not outline any further strategy in this regard.
"Growth with moderate rate of inflation... that is what we want to achieve," Mukherjee said in nearly an hour-long reply which left NDA "disappointed" and was followed by a walk out by the BSP, SP, BJD, AIADMK and Left parties.
Attributing high prices to external factors, the government said it is working to moderate food inflation to 5 per cent from over 8 per cent now without sacrificing growth.
In his response to the price rise debate, Pranab Mukherjee said that the government is considering imposing luxury tax on diesel cars to battle inflation.
Pranab said the government cannot wave a magic wand. It cannot control global commodity prices and that all developing countries were dealing with high inflation.
Pranab Mukherjee rejected the BJP's advice that growth should be traded with inflation if necessary. The finance minister also urged the opposition to not score political points on inflation.
"Inflation is basically the product of serious mismatch in between demand and supply. If I understand correctly, it does not mean we should not have growth. We should have growth but with moderate rate of inflation. We are trying to reach that objective," he said.
Responding to the Opposition's criticism on the growth front, Pranab said there was no inherent contradiction between growth and inflation and it was this growth that saved India during the recent economic meltdown in the West.
The senior Congress leader came under a flurry of attacks when former finance minister Yashwant Sinha warned the government that the Opposition would be forced to tell it to "go, for God's sake", if it failed to check the price rise spiral at the earliest.
Sinha asked the government to check price rise and ensure that the issue is not raised in the Winter Session of the Parliament on Wednesday.
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