Tripathi''s remarks on Rahul his personal view: Patel

Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) Hours after NCP General SecretaryD P Tripathi attacked Rahul Gandhi for his statement blamingcoalition compulsion for price rise, senior party leaderPraful Patel sought to play it down, saying it was the NCPspokesman''s personal opinion.

"What Tripathi said may be his personal views," Pateltold reporters here, after Tripathi''s statement that Rahul''sremarks should reflect "humility" and not "arrogance", irkedCongress.

"We (NCP) are with the UPA and will remain with it.

Rahul did not say anything about Pawar and there is no pointdistorting the Congress leader''s statement," the Union CivilAviation Minister said.

"There is also no point giving much weightage (to thecontroversy). Why make mountain out of a molehill," he said.

Earlier, Tripathi, whose party is a major constituentof the UPA, hit out at Rahul for blaming coalition compulsionfor price rise, a day after the latter made comments whichseemed to target Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar over pricerise.

Describing Rahul''s statement as "unfortunate",Tripathi said no single minister, including Pawar, could beheld responsible for the price rise as "it (reining in prices)is the collective responsibility" of the government.