Inflation: BJP wants Prime Minister to quit

As the inflation climbed to a new high of 8.24 per cent, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday accused the UPA government of mismanaging the economy and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"You the economic Prime Minister, cannot manage the economy, cannot manage India. Please quit," BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said.

He claimed that inflation had reached new heights during Manmohan Singh's tenure as finance minister in the P V Narasimha Rao-led government. The situation is similiar when he is the Prime Minister, Prasad said.

"Today the inflation has increased further to reach 8.24 per cent. On March 31, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had promised that recent measures taken by the government would show results in two weeks. But now it has been eight weeks and sufferings of the common man have grown by the day," Prasad said.

Even a bumper harvest has failed to improve the situation. "Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that we have had a bumper crop of 2.1 lakh tonnes. This has not brought any relief. "It is all due to UPA's mismanagement of the food economy," Prasad said.

Inflation: The silent killer!