Move to form secular front: Sharad slams Pawar

New Delhi, Jul 11: JD(U) slammed at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for its attempts to reach out to other parties for the creation of a 'secular' democratic front. JD(U) terms this as a 'bargaining tactics of Sharad Pawar.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said, “They (NCP) are not serious... They are very much in UPA. On the one hand they are enjoying the fruits of power and on the other hand, they talk alignment with other parties." He was talking in an interview when he was asked about JD(U)'s interest in responding to NCP's decision to forge alliances outside UPA.

Yadav also said that NCP leader can never 'escape the responsibility for the inflation'. “The price rise is due to UPA government"s policies and the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Affairs (portfolios held by Pawar) is maximum in it," he said.

He also bashed at Pawar's remark that he favours ending government's role in fixing sales quota on sugar industry.

"At present, the government controls the sugar industry right from fixing the support price of sugarcane to allocating the monthly quota for mills to sale in the open market. After decontrolling prices of petrol, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said diesel prices will also be decontrolled. Now Pawar is saying the same about sugar. It seems the UPA government has decided to leave common man at mercy of market," Mr. Yadav said.

He also knocked at Pawar's request to the PM to reduce his workload saying that his burden can be lessened by making him a minister without portfolio. He added that Pawar is always busy with cricket and BCCI, which is also a reason for such rise in food prices.

OneIndia News