Wheat import a collective decision, says NCP

Raipur, June 3 (UNI) The Nationalist Congress party (NCP) today asserted that it was the 'collective decision' of the United Progressive Alliance government to import wheat.

''It is not correct to say that it was Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's decision'', NCP General Secretary and spokesman D P Tripathi told newspersons here.

Stating that NCP was not in favour of such imports, he said the government had to take such a step because of a decline in production and depleting buffer stock of wheat.

Mr Tripathi, however, admitted that wheat import had adversely affected the interests of the farmers. ''But, the government has to take some decisions in the national perspective,'' he added.

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