Price rise rift between Congress and Pawar?

New Delhi, Jan 25: The price rise of essential commodities which has inspired parties such as BJP and BSP to launch a scathing attack against Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, may be causing a rift between him and Congress too.

After Pawar's statement that the pricing policy decisions were collective ones made by the cabinet including Prime Minister, Congress on Monday, Jan 25 said that the minister should work proactively.

"So far as the Congress is concerned, the Union Agriculture Ministry needs to work proactively with the state governments to see that the prices settle down," party spokesman Manish Tewari said when asked to respond to remark made by Pawar on Sunday, Jan 26.

Stating that he was not the only one involved in the price policy, Pawar had stated that "the Prime Minister and all of us together decide the price policy. There is an experts' committee to give guidelines to the cabinet which takes the final decision".

Even though Tewari said that Pawar "only enunciated the correct constitutional position with regard to collective responsibility of the government and parliamentary system", the spokesperson stressed on the "division of the government in various departments which look at the specific subjects."

OneIndia News