New Delhi, August 26: Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi today raised a controversy by attacking Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar accusing him of misrepresenting facts on availability of sugar, prompting the NCP to demand disciplinary action against Chaturvedi.
“If the stock of sugar was there and the mills were full of sugar stocks, then how did the shortage take place?” Chaturvedi said at a function here.
NCP spokesman D P Tripathi said “if he (Chaturvedi) has spoken like that, then disciplinary action should be initiated against him for maligning the UPA government”.
Tripathi said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on many occasions hailed Pawar as one of the best Agriculture Ministers of the country whose tenure has witnessed substantial increase in the minimum support prices of paddy, wheat, sugarcane and other farm produce.
Tripathi expressed confidence that Congress would not agree with the views of Chaturvedi.
Congress, however, sought to disassociate itself with the statement of Chaturvedi with party spokesman Manish Tewari saying this is “not a man-made situation and it was primarily the responsibility of the states to fight drought.
—Agencies