BENGALURU: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said if tensions continue to rise in the Middle East, it will have big consequences for India as oil prices will go up.“This is going to translate into import costs, shipping costs, insurance costs, energy costs, and again oil prices will go up,” he said during an interaction with senior editors in Bengaluru.India’s main concern and focus right now is the ship (seized by Iran near the Strait of Hormuz) with 17 Indians as part of the crew, and how to get them back, he said. On the situation in the region, the minister said there was a lot of pressure on Israel to de-escalate, but the feeling in Israel is different from the rest of the world. The next few days will see the pressure within Israel versus the pressure from the rest of the world and how it will play out, he said.“We are already so close to the polls….We are looking at months and we are not looking at weeks. I don’t think it will have an impact on the polls,” Jaishankar said, responding to a question on the increase in oil prices, resulting in an increase in petrol and diesel prices leading to retail inflation and its impact on the BJP’s prospects at the Lok Sabha polls.The minister said that at the national level people do not believe in Congress’ guarantees, as nationally people associate free ration, housing, electricity, water, and roads with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I have been in government for almost 50 years now. Often people say, we also had a scheme. Yes, they had a scheme. I began my career in the state, in Belagavi as a trainee officer. [Then CM] Devaraj Urs had a scheme for giving houses to Dalit villagers, but you get five houses in a year. Today, in the same place, you get 5000 houses,” he said.



Source link