Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today rubbished Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s charge of some states not co-operating in arresting sky rocketing prices of essential commodities, and alleged that the problem was the gift of “faulty policies” of the Congress.
“I don’t subscribe to Pawar’s charge about inability of states to control skyrocketing prices of essential commodities,” Kumar told reporters today.
"Whenever the Congress came to power at the Centre, it gifted the nation with uncontrolled price rise,” Kumar said.
Accusing Pawar of making such statements out of sheer frustration following the Centre’s failure to control rising prices, the chief minister said that the NDA government had taken the best possible measures to check spiralling prices.
“We are undertaking a drive against hoarding, and black marketers are being penalised. We have left no stone unturned to reach food grains to the people despite soaring prices of essential commodities,” Kumar said.
“Our efforts will take time, and it is my advice that the faulty policies of the Union ministry responsible for the present mess can be controlled with proper care to food security,” Kumar said.
Referring to the Gujarat government’s decision to make elections mandatory for urban bodies, the chief minister said, "The Constitution had given the liberty to the states to implement its own policies.”
“Nothing wrong has been done by way of taking this decision,” he said.
“Even Bihar adopted novel way of providing 50% reservation to women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI’s) and urban bodies, and other states are following it as a role model,” he stated.
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