Price rise due to 'faulty' policies of UPA, says BJP

Ridiculing the claim of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that global warming has led to price rise, BJP on Monday said the "faulty" policies of the UPA government had led to the inflation.

Ridiculing the claim of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that global warming has led to price rise, BJP on Monday said the "faulty" policies of the UPA government had led to the inflation.

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"The Agriculture Minister has blamed global warming for price rise and Congress has blamed him for the same. Instead of replying to Congress, the Minister is blaming the climate... NCP and Congress are indulging in blame game at the cost of the common man," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.

Addressing the National Convention of Nationalist Congress Party yesterday, party chief Sharad Pawar had blamed global warming as the reason behind price rise.

"Rice production has been affected. It (global warming) has affected sugarcane and other vegetable crops. We are observing that prices in all these areas have gone through the sky. And it is not a problem in India...Prices of all these items in the international market has skyrocketed," he had said.

Javadekar also accused the Centre of initially exporting sugar at Rs 13 a kg and then importing it as a much higher price. "This will only help middlemen and not the common man," he said adding that the decision to allow MNCs to directly procure grains from farmers was also leading to price rise.

The BJP MP asked Pawar to improve the "mismanagement" in his ministry instead of blaming state governments for not implementing the public distribution system.