Tempers flared and charges were traded between the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress at the meeting of chief ministers of states convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here today to debate the sharp rise in food prices. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to intervene at least thrice as Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi fired one salvo after the other at the Central government.
Modi asked why has the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance not kept its promise of a Food Security Bill or community kitchens for the urban poor? At this point, Mukherjee took the microphone and asked Modi to keep his focus on price rise. But that didn’t stop BJP’s poster boy of development. He said the Centre has no plan ready to tackle the rise in prices, and alleged it is discriminating against his state. Mukherjee, visibly upset, countered: “How can you make such charges?”
According to a senior minister who was present when the exchange of words took place, Mukherjee asked Modi not to politicise the issue. Modi, however, was in no mood to let Mukherjee have his way.
He sharply reacted to Mukherjee’s comments and said, if he is not allowed to speak, he would not attend any such meeting in the future. Modi added that only those states ruled by the National Democratic Alliance have acted against hoarders. This made a Congress chief minister remark: “Where are these NDA governments?”
Later, Modi told reporters that he did no wrong in raking up these issues and emphasised it was not politics. “I didn’t ask the government to fulfill our demands. These issues (the Food Security Bill, community kitchen etc) were Congress’ poll promises. I don’t think I committed a crime by asking them to implement their own agenda.”
Prime Minister Singh’s initiative today for a joint effort to control prices virtually turned into a blame game between the Congress and non-Congress governments. Apart from Modi, Orissa’s Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal), Kerala’s VS Achuthanandan and West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (both CPI(M)) also accused the Centre for the high prices and sought bold steps to curb the crisis.
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“No careful attention has been given to appropriate use of cost-efficient bio-fertilizers and other bio-inputs. The basic issue of land reforms as providing a basis for enhancing production has also been ignored from the national level,” Bhattacharjee alleged. He also said that sluggish farm production is a result of the Centre neglecting investments in irrigation and drainage projects. Patnaik dismissed the notion that states have to play a big role to check prices. “This is not the issue of the states. The Centre will have to take a definite step.”
Of course, Congress chief ministers like Haryana’s Bhupinder Singh Hooda supported the Centre. But Hooda raised the issue non-availability of railway wagons to procure food grain. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was present in the meeting along with a host of other Cabinet ministers.