Rising vegetable prices may take centre stage in upcoming Delhi polls

NEW DELHI: The soaring prices of onion and other vegetables may prove to be one of the major hurdles for the BJP in the upcoming Assembly election due in February 2020.

When looked into past elections, inflation has always been a hot poll issue and it is of no doubt that this time too, the inflation in vegetable prices, which impacts the voters directly, would be a centre of debate for political parties. While the Delhi BJP had lost Assembly polls in 1998 due to the soaring prices of onions and tomatoes.

It is pertinent to mention that onion and tomato prices continue to remain high since the August this year, onion literally brought tears to the eyes of consumers as retail prices touched Rs 100-150 per kilogram and tomato prices went up to Rs 60-80 per kg.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 23 this year kicked off the party's poll campaign at Ramlila Ground where the issue of regularising illegal colonies in Delhi was projected as an 'achievement' of the BJP.

According to sources, the election schedule for the Delhi polls could be announced by January 6, 2020, and the formation of Delhi Assembly is scheduled for February 22.

In 1998, when the BJP was in power in the city, the rise in onion prices helped Congress defeat them. In 2010, when prices of commodities rose, Congress barely managed to retain the state.

In October 1998, Sushma Swaraj became the chief minister of Delhi, replacing Sahib Singh Verma. The war between Verma and the BJP's unchallenged warlord in Delhi for years, Madan Lal Khurana, had spilt out into the open and Swaraj was brought in to tamp down the fires, even though her area of influence wasn't Delhi at all, but Haryana. The country was gearing up for Diwali and the price of onions had touched Rs 60 a kg then. The first decision of the Delhi cabinet under Swaraj on October 12 was to recommend to the Centre that it wanted to address the issue of escalating prices.

Keeping in mind that the BJP-led-government had allocated a special budget of Rs 500 crore for tomato, onion and potato.

The Centre's initiative to rein in the escalating prices of onion came in very late, which resulted in import of bulk supplies of onion from Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan.

(Image from livemint.com)