The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday indicated that it would try its best to bring tears to the eyes of Congress leaders over the issue of rising onion prices in Delhi, where elections are due on December 1.
Onion, which sold at Rs10/kg two days back, was going for Rs14/kg in Mother Dairy outlets today (October 7), while private vendors in trans-Yamuna localities were charging as much as Rs16.
The BJP government was trounced in the 1998 polls over the same issue. In fact, at one point onions were selling for Rs80/kg, forcing voters to bring in the Congress.
"Onion prices are determined by supply and demand. When supply gets erratic, prices behave erratically. In the last elections, it was the same factor and the monsoon was insufficient with the crop not coming up to expectations," BJP spokesperson Prakash Jawdekar said in New Delhi.
"But this national phenomenon was exploited by the Congress as a political tool. Now they are going to pay through their noses..." he said.
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Chaudhary Prem Singh said his party was monitoring the market.
"There may be some shortage now and onion prices could have risen a little, but our party workers are alert against any artificial scarcity and we will take stern action against hoarders," he said.
He expressed optimism that the situation would return to normal well before the polls.
Sources in the party's Ashoka Road headquarters expressed apprehension that onion supply from Maharashtra, especially from Nashik, which annually produces 500,000 tonnes, could be affected.
They said the BJP and Shiv Sena could hamper the supply of onions to Delhi and other Congress-ruled states before the assembly polls.