BJP woos parties against government on price rise platform

New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Ahead of the budget session, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday said it will launch a nationwide stir and get opposition parties, including the Left, on board to corner the government for its "wrong" economic policies triggering food prices skyrocketing.

"We will launch a nationwide protest against the government which has failed to check price rise," BJP president Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

Gadkari said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is trying to get the opposition parties on board, adding: "We will invite all parties, including the Left and Lalu (Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal) who are protesting against rising prices."

The government, he contended, "is not competent enough to handle economic matters", adding: "They have wrong economic policies. It is a collective failure of the government."

"I also invite UPA (United Progressive Alliance) parties who are opposed to the government's economic policies to join us," Gadkari said.

The budget session of parliament will begin Feb 22.

The BJP president said the main reason behind food inflation was that "commodity exchanges are manipulated to jack up food prices".

"The records of last year's transaction on forward exchanges in essential commodities clearly establish that it is 99 percent speculation and less than one percent deliveries. These exchanges are used for manipulation," he said.

The BJP also demanded permanent delisting of essential food-agriculture commodities from forward trading list.