Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi led the opposition charge and was thrice involved in a war of words with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and at one point prime minister Manmohan Singh intervened.
Making a sharp attack on the Centre for its "faulty" policies leading to price rise, the non-Congress ruled states today asked it to introspect instead of pointing fingers at them.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi led the opposition charge and was thrice involved in a war of words with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and at one point prime minister Manmohan Singh intervened.
Modi charged the Centre with not implementing the Congress election promise of providing wheat and rice at Rs3 per kg. This prompted Mukherjee to accuse Modi of politicising the issue, a charge denied by him.
The Centre came under attack from chief ministers Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Raman Singh (Chhattishgarh), Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab), Buddhadev Bhattacharya (West Bengal), Naveen Patnaik (Orissa), B S Yeddyurappa (Karnataka) and Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) and P K Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh).
"The states cannot be blamed for the price rise and the Centre is to be squarely blamed," was the refrain of the opposition chief ministers as articulated by Patnaik.
The Karnataka chief minister put the onus on the Union agriculture ministry for the rise in prices of essential commodities and said the price rise has been due to factors outside the control of the state government.
"The reasons for the price rise besides the decline in production and natural disasters have also been due to statements made by senior officials of the ministry at New Delhi," Yeddyurappa said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, who is engaged in a war of words with the Centre on price rise, skipped the the conference and instead sent her finance minister Lalji Verma for the meeting.
While Modi accused the Centre of not being ready with any action plan to cool surging prices, Nitish Kumar contended that "anomalies and contradictions" in the Centre's policy gave rise to the problem.
"We all know (that) demand for edible oils and pulses far outstrips their production in the country. This situation has not cropped up all of a sudden," Kumar said.
The Punjab chief minister blamed the "faulty" delivery system of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for the problem and demanded funds for creation of storage infrastructure for foodgrains.
Badal said efforts being made by Punjab farmers for extra production are going down the drain as benefits are not being passed on to consumers.
To augment domestic production of pulses and edible oils, farmers should be given some incentive in the form of subsidised electricity and fertilisers, he said.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal alleged that less allocation to PDS led to the price rise. The decision to export sugar in the last two years also led to the rise in the price of the sweetner.
The West Bengal chief minister asked the Centre to universalise the PDS and take stringent action against hoarding and boost investment in irrigation to improve agricultural growth and check rising prices.
"Such a package of policy measures will not only incentivise growth of agricultural production but this social welfare role of the government through universal PDS will unleash countervailing force against monopolistic elements and help control price rise," Bhattacharjee said.
Chhattisgarh chief minister pitched for reforms in the PDS for effective control over rising prices. "For effective control over rising prices of essential commodities, the legal provisions have to be strengthened and PDS reformed to make it consumer-centric," Singh said.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister suggested development of Special Agriculture Zones to control price rise by improving farm production.
Expressing concern over gradually shrinking of agricultural land into Special Economic Zones, he said "SAZ (Special Agriculture Zone) should be encouraged instead of SEZ (Speial Economic Zone)" to control price rise.
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