Cong's Lamba targets Centre over inflation, failing to provide jobs

Congress leader Alka Lamba on Wednesday targeted the BJP-led government at the Centre over inflation and accused it of failing to provide enough employment opportunities to the country's youth.

Inflation has broken citizens' backs ever since the (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi-led government came to power, the All India Congress Committee spokesperson said.

"In 2014, the cost of a gas cylinder was Rs 410, which today is Rs 1,050. Petrol was Rs 70, which is (now) over Rs 100 per litre while the price of diesel, which was Rs 55, is now over Rs 90 per litre. The cost of edible oil and pulses have also risen drastically.

"...even curd, paneer, lassi, flour, dry soybean, peas and puffed rice could not escape the barbaric attack of GST. Five per cent GST was imposed on them too," Lamba told reporters at a press conference here.

She also accused the Centre of not reducing petrol and diesel prices despite crude oil rates in the international market continuously decreasing.

In the past eight years, Rs 29 lakh crore have been withdrawn from the public by imposing tax on petroleum products, Lamba added.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP also "bluffed" farmers on doubling their incomes.

"The backward, Dalit, tribal sections of society were not given enough opportunities for progress... to cover up all these failures, India was pushed into a quagmire of hatred, despair and negativity," Lamba alleged.

The Congress will run the 'Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan' mass dialogue programme across the country from January 26 to give its 'Bharat Jodo' campaign a more comprehensive form, she said.

It will be headed by the Congress' block committees, she added.

Speaking about the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra, Lamba said, "From Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Rahul Gandhi is on a yatra to end the BJP regime's environment of hatred, despair and negativity and is uniting India."

The 3,900-kilometre 'padyatra' (foot march), which started from Kanyakumari on September 7, entered Jammu and Kashmir via last week. It will culminate with Gandhi unfurling the national flag in Srinagar on January 30.

"Now, the Congress will conduct a mass dialogue programme -- 'Hath Se Hath Jodo Abhiyan' -- across the country from January 26 to March 26 to give more comprehensiveness to the 'Bharat Jodo' campaign," she said.

By reaching six lakh villages, 2.50 lakh gram panchayats and 10 lakh polling booths, Gandhi's message and a "charge sheet" of the Modi government's failures will be delivered to every household under this campaign, she added.