Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday hit out at the Narendra Modi-led government for rising inflation. Figures the government released on Monday showed that consumer price inflation increased to 7.35% in December 2019 – the highest since July 2014.

“The prices of vegetables and other edible commodities are becoming too expensive for the common man,” Gandhi tweeted. “What will the poor eat when vegetables, oil, pulses and flour turn expensive? The poor are not even getting employment due to the economic recession. The BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government has not just picked the pockets of the poor but also kicked on their stomach.”

Prices of vegetables have shown the most increase, shooting up by as much as 60.5%.

Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram also lashed out at the BJP-led government for price rise. He said the sliding economy is an even greater threat to the country than the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Population Register.

“The nation is engrossed with the anti-CAA, anti-NPR protests,” Chidambaram tweeted. “Both present a clear and present danger. The sliding economy is an even greater threat to the country. If unemployment rises and incomes decline, there is the danger of youth and students exploding in anger.”

He added that while food inflation stands at 14.12%, vegetable prices are up 60%. Onions, he said, cost over Rs 100 per kg. “This is the acche din promised by BJP,” Chidambaram mocked.

Chidambaram said the “circle of incompetent management is complete”. He said that while the Modi-led government started with an inflation rate of 7.39% in July 2014, it now stands at 7.35%.