Finance Minister Arun Jaitley feels the heat as prices set House on ire

New Delhi: The opening day of Parliament’s Budget Session, the first one under the new government, got off to a stormy start on Monday with vociferous protests by the Opposition over rising prices.

Both Houses could thus transact little of their normal business. The protests forced finance minister Arun Jaitley to tell the Rajya Sabha that the government was committed to containing inflation as it was a “serious and sensitive matter”. Saying there was no reason for panic, the finance minister assured the House that the 41-day-old government had taken immediate steps to contain the price of food items.

Mr Jaitley also defended the recent hike in rail fares, saying subsidised passenger fares were leading to losses running into thousands of crores, and that the railways’ financial health was extremely poor.

The finance minister’s reply, however, did not satisfy the Opposition, with the Congress leading a walkout with members belonging to the BSP, Trinamul Congress and CPM joining in. Those belonging to the NCP and the DMK, however, did not join the walkout.

The government’s swift move to accept the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on rising prices in the Rajya Sabha saw calm return to the Upper House.
However, there was no such discussion in the Lok Sabha.