Pawar's statement on prices irresponsible, should resign: BJP

BJP today termed as "irresponsible utterances" the statement of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar that he was no "astrologer" and so could not predict when prices will come down, and demanded that he should quit if he was incapable of bringing down prices.
    
"If Pawar is not an astrologer then why does he go on to tell prices will increase further. For rising prices he can forecast but for bringing down prices he shows inability," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
    
He demanded that Pawar quit if he cannot bring down prices and said, "We remind him that as a minister he is duty-bound to tell the country how he is going to bring down prices and not plead inability."
    
He alleged that such "irresponsible utterances" from UPA ministers was one of the factors responsible for spurt in prices. "Inflation is the result of malafide joint manipulation (by government and speculators)," he added.
    
Another BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said Pawar's statement showed the government's "insensitivity".     

"Government has lost the credibility to govern and is trying to trivialise the issue," he said.
    
Rudy said if Pawar was not in a position to tell when prices will come down, the prime minister, "whose wisdom on economic issues is well-known", should explain.
    
"If not, then may be, the Congress president can answer," he said.