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ShareNew Delhi: NCP today hit back at Congress for virtually holding agriculture minister Sharad Pawar responsible for spiralling food prices, saying it will be a "mockery" of the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
"By fixing responsibility on individual ministers, we will be making a mockery of the principle of collective responsibility of the Cabinet system," NCP spokesman DP Tripathi told reporters.
He insisted that there was "nothing blasphemous" about the NCP leader meeting Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on the IPL cricket issue.
"Responsible spokesman like Manish Tewari should not make statements that agriculture, food, PDS and consumer affairs minister Sharad Pawar is responsible for price rise of food items," he said.
Tripathi suggested that if the logic of Congress is stretched further then the urban development minister would be held guilty for rise in the cost of houses, surface transport minister for hike in bus and automobile prices, power minister for increase in electricity tariff and textiles minister for rise in the price of cloth.
Appealing to the Congress to desist from making such statements, he wanted it to realise that it was not only the leading party but the major partner in the UPA government which heads the maximum ministries. "It is more logical and correct to say that Congress has a major responsibility for most of the decisions of the government".
On the row over Pawar's meeting with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, Tripathi wondered, "What is so blasphemous about the meeting? In democracy, you try to persuade through dialogue".
Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said it was never officially stated by the Congress side that only one ministry was responsible for price rise.
"There is a collective responsibility. States are also responsible for it," he said.
Asked to comment on Tewari's remark yesterday that food inflation squarely falls within the ministries held by Pawar, he said Tewari did not mean to say that only one ministry is responsible for price rise.
