New Delhi: This was rare. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday lost his temper at Opposition lawmakers in Parliament and warned them not to “ridicule his sensitivity”.
"I am from a village. I studied under a kerosene lamp till my Class 10, commuted to school by walking, in today's terminology, 10 km everyday. Don't ridicule my sensitivity," said Mukherjee with folded hands when Opposition members claimed that the Centre was trying to blame the states for price rise in the country.
Mukherjee asked the Opposition to explain what was “insensitive”: raising kerosene prices from Rs 2 a litre to Rs 9 per litre (during the NDA regime) or increasing the prices from Rs 9 a litre to Rs 12 per litre?
The UPA government in June raised prices of kerosene by Rs 3 a litre, cooking gas by Rs 35 a cylinder and diesel by Rs a litre, besides freeing petrol prices from government control that made the fuel costlier by Rs 3 a litre.
Mukherjee was replying to the discussion on the Motion on Inflationary pressure on the economy. He later apologised.
"Madam Speaker, first of all I would like to express my regret and apology because I lost my cool and temper with one of my young colleagues, which I should not have done. But nonetheless, it has happened on the floor of the House. I sincerely apologise to the House," he said.
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