With BJP President Rajnath Singh finally announcing Narendra Modi as the BJP’s PM candidate, there is good news on the inflation front: prices of sugar and tea are expected to decline steeply given that the innumerable meetings, which BJP leaders held to build consensus on the issue, during which humongous amounts of tea with sugar along with pakoras, mixture, samosas, jalebis and other snacks were gulped down, will now come to an end.
Estimates of the amount of milk consumed during these meetings over the last one year range from 10,000 to 20,000 litres with one analyst ball parking it at 50,000 litres after taking Nitin Gadkari’s presence into account. Consequently, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index is expected to come down to 8.5% in September from 9.5% the previous month, bringing much needed relief to the aam aadmi. Prices of barfi, ladoos, gulab jamuns, Pepsi, Rasna, Lay’s chips and other assorted junk food are expected to fall as manufacturers of these items expect drastic fall in demand.
Seizing the opportunity, RBI chief, Dr. Raghuram Rajan has cut interest rates by 50 basis points. “I had always maintained that these BJP meetings, especially those involving Nitin Gadkari, were a key factor behind demand pull inflation,” he noted in the RBI’s quarterly report on inflation.
The BJP’s achievement of consensus could also bring down pressure on fuel prices, with BJP President’s late night to and fro road trips between LK Advani’s house and the BJP headquarters coming to an end. “We expect domestic fuel consumption to fall by 20% this fiscal now that Rajnathji won’t be doing the rounds anymore, visiting the bungalows of various BJP leaders to achieve consensus. At one point we were even giving serious consideration to Moily’s proposal of shutting petrol bunks at night, had the BJP’s power struggle continued any longer,” an official in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas told The UnReal Times.
However, more price volatility may be in store. Retail prices of milk and sugar yet again shot through the roof overnight after BJP leaders rushed to Shri LK Advani’s house after rumours of the patriarch blogging about why he thinks Rahul Gandhi will make a better PM candidate than Narendra Modi began to circulate on social media.
(Based on a tweet by @ssusshant)