MP govt hoarding onions, wants to benefit from high price in elections: Congress

The Congress government in Delhi on Tuesday accused the BJP dispensation in Madhya Pradesh of hoarding onions in the state to create an artificial shortage in the national capital so that the saffron party can benefit from its high price in December 4 assembly polls.

"BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is deliberately hoarding onions in the state. BJP wants to take advantage of high onion prices in the assembly election in Delhi," Delhi's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf told a press conference along with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Congress in Delhi is concerned over the rocketing onion prices ahead of the assembly polls. The BJP government was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 following spiralling onion prices.

Charging BJP with trying to politicise the issue of onion prices, he said there had been reports of widespread hoarding of onions in Madhya Pradesh which supplies the vegetable to Delhi.  "They (Madhya Pradesh government) are doing it with a purpose," Yusuf said.

Onion prices in retail markets have risen back to the Rs 80-90/kg level mainly due to shortage in supply. Asked about spiralling onion prices, Dikshit also referred to reports about hoarding of the vegetable in Madhya Pradesh and added "unprecedented" rains in a number of onion-growing states have resulted its shortage.

Delhi gets supply of onion from a number of states, including Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chouhan, who looks after the functioning of all wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, said 1100 tonnes of onion arrived in Delhi today which will ease the prices.

"We are receiving onions from Rajathan also. So, the prices will come down soon," he said.  BJP has slammed the government for its "failure" to contain prices of the kitchen staple. Yusuf claimed no hoarding of onion was taking place in Delhi as government has been keeping a strict vigil.

To mitigate the effect of soaring onion prices, Delhi government had last month started selling onions at reasonable rates through 50 mobile vans across the city but discontinued it when the prices came down.