New Delhi: Amid signs of unease over
Sharad Pawar`s move, Congress on Thursday said it was upto the
Prime Minister to take a decision on Agriculture Minister`s
letter to him alleging that the government`s policies were
hurting farmers who were being asked to subsidise industry.
"We do not know the details of the letter. The Prime
Minister will go through it and take an appropriate decision",
party spokesman Rashid Alvi told reporters when asked about
Pawar`s communication to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Pawar, who is supremo of the NCP-- a constituent of the
Congress-led UPA, has in the letter said he was upset about
curbs on milk, cotton and sugar exports.
In the letter, Pawar strongly criticised the Food
Ministry headed by KV Thomas and the Textile Ministry under
Anand Sharma`s charge for policies he called "ambivalent" and
against farmers. Both Thomas and Sharma belong to Congress.
A senior Congress leader, who declined to be identified,
said that the party does not consider Pawar`s letter as an
innocuous move and feels that the NCP chief was "playing some
game" by seeking to corner the government of which his party
is a part.
A political realignment could be on the minds of the NCP
chief, he said.
Mamata Banerjee`s Trinamool Congress and DMK are the two
other UPA constituents which have raised problems for the
government in the recent past on some issues.
After Pawar`s letter, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
today used Twitter to attack the Centre on what he called its
"anti-farmer policies".
Modi tweeted, "The UPA ignores our repeated pleas against
anti-farmer policies. Wonder if they`ll respond to their own
Agriculture Minister."
PTI
