Mumbai, Jan. 24: Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, under severe strain over rising inflation, on Sunday put his foot in his mouth, suggesting in Pune that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was equally responsible for inflation. Mr Pawar’s party, the NCP, is a UPA ally at the Centre and partners the Congress in government in Maharashtra.
Mr Pawar said the policy with respect to prices of essential commodities was decided in a Cabinet meeting, in the presence of the PM and other ministers, and therefore he alone was not responsible for it. The Union minister received severe criticism from the Opposition, led by the BJP, and also allied parties at the Centre, for the rising prices of essential commodities like food grains, sugar, vegetable, milk and pulses. Critics had blamed him for inflation, saying his forecast that inflation would rise further and that there was no end to it in the near future, had made traders hoard essential commodities.
Umesh Mohite