New Delhi [India], July 15 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led central government over the alleged surge in wholesale inflation, declaring that the ruling party's governance weighs heavily on every Indian.
Reacting to the report of wholesale inflation surging to a 44-month high of 9.87%, Kharge also highlighted the rise in retail prices, alleging that the BJP has built a dubious record of picking people's pockets in the 12-year tenure of its rule.
"In May, Modi ji preached the entire country to save, and then his government imposed levies and burned up the public's savings!," Kharge said in a post on X.
He further accused the ruling party of using the West Asia conflict as an "excuse" for its inability to control the rise in prices in the country.
"On one hand, there's the hit of inflation, and on the other, the weakest monsoon in 12 years. This year sowing has dropped by 52%, less than half. Farmers in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh are devastated by drought. On the other hand, Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar, Bengal, Uttarakhand are facing damage from floods. For farmers, fuel, fertilizer, seeds - everything has become expensive," Kharge said in a post on X.
The Congress President also alleged that despite the decline in global crude oil prices, the BJP has failed to reduce petrol, diesel and gas prices, asserting that "looting the public" is in the party's nature.
https://x.com/kharge/status/2077291585956446506
Kharge's remarks followed the release of June inflation data, which highlighted an acceleration of wholesale prices due to increased food and fuel costs in the country. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the annual wholesale inflation rate based on the All India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rose to 9.87 per cent in June 2026, up from 9.68 per cent in May.
Wholesale food prices experienced a notable uptick during the month. The WPI Food Index, which carries a total weight of 24.99 per cent and combines food articles from primary goods with manufactured food items, registered a year-on-year inflation rate of 6.14 per cent in June, climbing from the 4.49 per cent reported in May.
The retail inflation rate jumped to 4.38 per cent in June from 3.93 per cent in May, breaching the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) 4 per cent benchmark target.