Pawar may have solution for PC's inflation woes

With the ruling Congress and UPA allies like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) stepping up pressure on the government on the issue of inflation, the Union Cabinet is learnt to have asked Finance Minister P Chidambaram last week to provide to all UPA members of Parliament (MPs) a note on the issue.

Chidambaram is yet to give the note, even as he came under fresh pressure from within his party and the government for what his ministerial colleagues called "the greatest faux pas" in his Budget speech "" mention of duty cuts on import of pet food.

A ministerial source said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was "quite disturbed" at this "blunder" as it had given ammunition to the Opposition to talk about pet food versus food for the people, in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The source, however, added that Chidambaram would ride over the controversy as there was a growing realisation within the party and the government that he was being targeted for the lapses of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

The Abhijit Sen Committee, set up to see if there was any relation between futures trading in essential commodities and price rise, could provide ammunition to Pawar's detractors in the government.

"We have to consider whether these commodity exchanges should remain under the agriculture ministry or put under the finance ministry, given the fact that in a commodity exchange, say CMEX, foodgrain constitute only around 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the commodities that are traded," said a UPA minister.

He added, "Why should such exchanges be under the agriculture ministry? But Sharad Pawar rejects the idea whenever it comes up in the government."

Thanks to inflation and the plight of the aam admi, the issue of redistribution of agriculture and food & civil supplies portfolios has cropped up again.

"If prices are rising in Delhi, let it be, because it will mean better returns to farmers. But for this to happen, you cannot have a single minister looking after the interests of both consumers and farmers," said a government source.

To buttress the argument about lack of initiatives on the part of the agriculture minister on the issue of inflation, sources pointed out that the prime minister had, in December 2005, cleared the file proposing wheat imports. It was over three months later that the first tender was floated.