Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday attacked the Union government over the rise in prices of onions and other essential commodities and said it tries to control inflation only when elections are round the corner.

She was addressing a rally in Indore-5 Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, where polls will be held on November 17 and votes will be counted on December 3.

"Onion prices have increased before Diwali and housewives are upset over this. The government makes efforts to control inflation only when elections are held. The price of an LPG cylinder rose to Rs 1,400 and two months before the elections, the government reduced its price to Rs 400," said.

Weren't people struggling with inflation earlier, the senior Congress leader asked.

Slamming the economic policies of the Narendra Modi government, she said big industrialists were prospering, while small and medium entrepreneurs who generate employment on a large-scale are languishing.

Despite all the big announcements of the government, the poor were getting poorer, with every section of society hit hard by inflation and unemployment, which was the highest in 45 years, Gandhi said.

"Government posts are lying vacant. According to one figure, the Madhya Pradesh government has given employment to just 21 persons in the last three years. The state's BJP government made 22,000 announcements, but didn't fulfil even 22 of them. It gave jobs to just 21," she alleged.

"When loans worth several thousand crore rupees can be written off for big industrialists, why can't the Old Pension Scheme be brought back for government employees," she questioned.

Gandhi said the Bharatiya Janata Party tries to divert the attention of people during elections by offering a "bouquet of religion, caste and false announcements".

"But after the elections, the voter realizes this bouquet is actually empty," Gandhi said.

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