Entire Union Cabinet responsible for high food inflation: Arun Jaitley

BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said that not only the prime minister, but the entire Union Cabinet including its ally Trinamool Congress, were equally responsible for the high rate of food inflation.

"Rate of food inflation is much higher now than that of non-food items and for which not Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alone, his entire Union Cabinet and Mamata Banerjee are equally responsible", Jaitley told a BJP rally at the ongoing 'Navjagaran Rathyatra' at Habra in adjoining North 24 Parganas district.

Claiming that none other than BJP would be able to usher in an era of peace and development in the coming elections in West Bengal, he said all BJP chief ministers would arrive here on February 15 "to explain to the people how BJP will ensure pace of development in the state if we can wrest power here."

Jaitley said that while the JD(U)-BJP coalition government had brought about a rapid change in Bihar in last five years, "West Bengal projects a grim picture under the 34 years of Left Front rule."

He said it was a matter of regret that West Bengal, once industrially prosperous, "lagged much behind" other states under CPI(M) rule.