UPA has become symbol of heartless govt: Jaitley

The United Progressive Alliance government has become a symbol of "heartless government" as it has failed to understand the pains of inflation borne by the common man, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

"The UPA government was brought to power by the common man but today it has failed to understand their pains. The government is hiking prices of petrol, diesel and has put a cap on LPG cylinders to six. This shows that it has become a symbol of heartless government," Jaitley said, addressing a demonstration by Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha on the issue of price hike of LPG and power tariff.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said the decision of putting a cap on the number of subsidised LPG cylinder to six per family shows that the Manmohan Singh government was far removed from reality.

The BJP leader also criticised the Delhi government for hiking power and water tariffs. He alleged that the government was looting the common man to provide benefits to private companies.

Asking people to root out the UPA government in the next general elections, Jaitley said as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that money does not grow on trees, now the electors will tell him that votes also does not grow on trees.

At the same venue, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the allies of the government were slowly leaving them and it is not going to last after winter session of Parliament.

There was no problem of supply of LPG cylinders during the NDA regime, she said.

Common man had got reprieve from rising inflation only twice -- first during Morarji Desai government and during the NDA regime, Swaraj said.

"They have CWG scam, 2G spectrum scam and scam in coal block allocation. The government is not worried about rising inflation and its effect on the common man," she said.