New Delhi, The Delhi Congress on Wednesday blamed the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi for the shortage and soaring price of onions in the national capital, saying their shortsightedness has led to the current situation.
In a press conference, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee working Presidents Haroon Yusuf, Devender Yadav and Rajesh Lilothia said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was trying to fool the people of Delhi by claiming that onion shortage will be brought under control within 10 days.
“The vegetable has become a scarce commodity in the national capital now, selling at an exorbitant price of Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg,” they said.
They also said that the BJP and the AAP should stop playing with the people on the issue of onion shortage.
Yusuf said that in 10 days’ time, onions from Gujarat and Rajasthan would start arriving in Delhi, and the prices would automatically start falling.
Moreover, he added, during Navaratri, the consumption of onions comes down by 60 per cent, leading to a slump in the demand for the vegetable.
“When the Congress, under Sheila Dikshit, was in power in Delhi, it used to take advance steps to ensure that there is no shortage of onions at any point of time,” Yusuf said, adding that when the supply of onions from the traditional sources became dearer, the Congress government used to buy onions even from Tamil Nadu to ensure that there was no shortage of the vegetable.
Yusuf said the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and the Kejriwal regime in Delhi were making people stand in queue for everything, even for onions.
He said both the governments seemed to take some vicarious pleasure from the plight of the people of Delhi.
Yusuf also slammed Kejriwal for his statement that over two lakh street lights would be installed in the city for women’s safety.
“Kejriwal has realised the importance of women’s safety after being in power for nearly five years, following several attacks on women.
“Similarly, Kejrwial’s promise of adding 1,000 buses to the DTC fleet was a joke, as in the past five years, commuters had to put up with severe inconvenience due to the shortage of DTC buses,” he said.
Lilothia said that the Congress workers in Delhi will hold a “Chhalawa Diwas” outside the residence of Kejriwal on Thursday, when the Chief Minister is slated to hold an “Adhikar Diwas” to make a fresh set of promises to the sanitation workers of Delhi to “fool” them.
“In the last four-and-a-half years, Kejriwal had made many promises to the sanitation workers, from hiking their wages to ending the contract system. But he did not fulfil any of the promises made to the sanitation workers,” Lilothia said.
Yadav, on the other had, alleged that the delaying tactics of the Kejriwal government has led to the delay in the implementation of the Street Vendors’ Act, though the Congress-led government at the Centre had passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act in 2014.
“Had the Act been passed as soon as the AAP government came to power in Delhi, it would have benefited over five lakh street vendors in the national capital,” he said.
