Price Rise: Everything Appears 'Goody-Goody' to FM Nirmala Sitharaman, Ask Common People If It Really Is So, Says AAP

New Delhi, August 3: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday hit out at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the price rise issue and said everything appears "goody-goody" to her but the common people should be asked if it really is so.

The party said the finance minister would know well what she wanted to prove with her reply in both the Houses of Parliament on the price rise issue but the common people are facing the brunt of inflation.

"She did not accept that the value of Indian rupee is falling (against the dollar). She did not accept that the prices of food items have increased. Everything appears goody goody to her," AAP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said at a press conference while replying to questions on the finance minister's reply.

"Ask common people if everything is goody goody in their lives," he added.

Singh said "good days" have only come for all the BJP leaders and those from the party holding ministerial berths, but the common people are still waiting to see such days in their lives. No GST on Hospital Bed Or ICU, Says FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha.

"Has achche din (good days) come into the lives of labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers and those living in slums?" he asked. Latching onto Sitharaman's response on the issue of rise in the prices of onions in 2019, the AAP leader charged, "She is great. When the price of onions rose, she said she doesn't eat onion."

"How will she see price rise? You ask her how the price of milk increased and she will reply she doesn't drink milk. You ask her about the rise in the prices of wheat, dal, rice, and she will say she is living by eating carrots and radish," Singh added.

Replying to a debate on price rise in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the finance minister put a strong defence of her handling of inflation as she compared current prices to rates existing six months before the UPA exited power, and said the GST regime has not increased the tax burden on the families. India Remains Fastest Growing Economy Despite COVID-19 Pandemic, Says FM Nirmala Sitharaman on Price Rise.

With the opposition breathing fire over a rise in the prices of daily essentials, Sitharaman compared the current price of tomato, onion and potato with that prevalent in November 2013 to say the rates are stable.

On Monday, the finance minister acknowledged in Lok Sabha that the country faces inflationary pressure but said that the Union government has been able to contain it below 7 per cent despite problems like COVID-19 and Omicron.

Efforts are being made to bring down retail inflation below 7 per cent, she had told the Lower House while replying to a debate on the price rise.