Pawar cannot be sigled out for price rice: Cong

New Delhi, June 21 (UNI) Refusing to hold Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar responsible for the rising prices of vegetables and certain other essential commodities, the Congress today said the government was ''fully seized of the matter'' and the prices would be brought down soon.

''I don't want to sigle out any individual minister'' for the rise in prices, especially of tomatos, party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan told reporters.

The government was fully ''cognizant of the matter and taking all possible steps to ease the situation arising from a combination of various factors,'' including hoarding and black-marketeering, she said.

Though Ms Natarajan expressed ignorance over Congress President Sonia Gandhi taking up the issue with the government, party sources said the high command was in touch with the Manmohan Singh regime in a bid to effectively deal with the rising prices.

The sources also ruled out the government invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to deal with the situation for the fear of criticism from the BJP and other opposition parties.

Replying to a question on how the prices were rising despite the leadership of noted economists, including Dr Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, she said the country had full confidence in the capability and integrity of the UPA government.

Any rise in prices was a matter of concern for the Congress and the government of the day and the party was aware that there has been a trend of rise in prices, she said and added that it was not a overnight development.

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