Cong says pulses crisis ‘ man- made’, slams govt

A day after Rahul Gandhi derided Prime Minister as “Arhar Modi”, the Congress on Friday stepped up the attack on the government, alleging that the pulses “crisis” is a “man- made scam” of ` 2.5 lakh crore in which the common man was “robbed” of by profiteers, hoarders and black marketers.

The party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala demanded that the Prime Minister must answer and take “decisive action” against those who “fleeced” the ordinary citizen in the last 15 months.

“People of India have paid 150 per cent to 200 per cent extra for pulses alone during 15 months of Modi government i. e. April, 2015 to July, 2016. This comes to over ` 2,50,000 crore for this period. It is a man- made crisis of great magnitude and proportion under the very nose of Modi government... with the covert and overt support of the Modi g o v e r n m e n t , ” Mr Surjewala said.

“This daylight robbery is clearly discernible when one compares the MSP/ import price of pulses ( even after adding ` 5 per kg of processing fee plus ` 10 per kg of transportation charges plus ` 5 per kg of profit) as against the actual sale price to ordinary consumer”, Mr Surjewala said.

Noting the MSP of pulses, as also imported pulses was in the range of ` 40 to ` 50, he said that this clearly showed that price of domestically produced or imported pulses cannot be more than ` 60- 65 per kg.