Aam aadmi takes home loan, Cong finally admits, calls for rate cut

Barely days after the BJP raised the issue of hardening home loan rates, the Congress has finally jumped in...

Barely days after the BJP raised the issue of hardening home loan rates, the Congress has finally jumped in, eager to woo the middle-class in an election year. It is set to ask Finance Minister P Chidambaram to take “appropriate steps” to ensure reduction in home-loan rates. The FM is scheduled to hold pre-Budget consultations with senior party leaders at the Congress headquarters here on Wednesday.

“The issue of home loans is very important as it is related to the aam aadmi. The interest rates have to be lowered,” AICC media cell chairperson Veerappa Moily said today.

Fresh from electoral setbacks in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and gearing up for elections in eight states this year, a section of the ruling party is in favour of an increase in income tax exemption limit, too. When asked about that, Moily, however, said the party is still “deliberating” on it and no decision has been taken so far.

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Elaborating on the “demand list” to be presented to the Finance Minister on Wednesday, Moily said that farm subsidies should be continued as the same in the US and European countries is “terrible”.

Senior Congress leaders said the issue of price rise would be “topmost” on the agenda of the pre-Budget discussions on Wednesday. “The party has been raising this issue for the last two years from different forums including the Congress Working Committee. Although the government has managed to bring the inflation rate down, prices of essential commodities continue to be very high,” said an AICC General Secretary.

“We are concerned about the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto and those in the National Common Minimum Programme. We are anxious to ensure that it is implemented before we face the electorate,” said Moily.