New Delhi: Even as the BJP gears up for the
first phase of its all-India agitation against price rise from
January 18, the main opposition today said the government was
wrongly blaming state governments instead of giving them
proper subsidy on foodgrains.
"I am surprised that on January 11 he (Agriculture
Minister Sharad Pawar) had said I am no astrologer and cannot
tell when prices will come down. What happened in two days
that he became an astrologer?" BJP spokesperson Prakash
Javadekar asked after Pawar said prices would come down in 10
days.
The Rajya Sabha MP accused the government of "fooling"
and "deceiving" the people by making such promises and
insisted that government was not following the normal course
of off-loading the buffer stock in the market through the
tender process to bring down prices.
"Pawar is blaming the state governments but not saying why
they are not taking these foodgrains. It is because the
government is charging state governments the procurement cost
plus the cost of transporting the commodity from Ludhiana to
its destination," Javadekar said.
He argued that state governments should be given subsidy
if they were expected to provide these foodgrains to the poor
at reasonable prices.
Javadekar also refuted Pawar`s contention that his
ministry was not aware that less sugarcane was sown this year
as figures obtained through satellite imagery were provided to
the government.
PTI
