Union Minister for Women and Child Development Minister, Smriti Irani blamed the rising fuel prices on free vaccines, ration and the poor in India, a Congress leader has said.
Mahila Congress president Netta D’Souza confronted Ms. Irani on the issue on a Guwahati-bound flight from New Delhi on Sunday. Their face-off continued on the aerobridge after the flight landed at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi Airport.
While the Opposition leader travelled to Guwahati for a party programme, the Minister was scheduled to chair the zonal convention of State governments and stakeholders of the northeast for ensuring an optimum impact of three missions — Poshan 2.0, Vatsalya and Shakti — launched recently by her Ministry.
“Faced Modi Minister @smritiirani ji, enroute to Guwahati. When asked about Unbearable Rising Prices of LPG, she blamed Vaccines, Raashan & even the poor!” Ms. D’Souza tweeted after the run-in.
In a video she posted, the Congress leader is heard asking the Minister about rising fuel prices. The latter is heard asking Ms. D’Souza to not block the passage of passengers who were deboarding.
Ms. Irani then reciprocated to a passenger who wished her ‘happy Bihu’. But Ms. D’Souza said there cannot be Bihu without gas and stoves. When the Minister told the Congress leader not to lie (about non-availability of gas), the latter insisted on knowing why the price of gas was so high.
Ms. Irani countered by saying that the Central government was helping the poor with several schemes besides providing free doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
