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Pawar adopting negative attitude: Chief Minister

Special Correspondent

Says Prime Minister has promised to restore the PDS quota

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan on Wednesday protested against the stand of the Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar against restoring PDS quotas to the State.

Talking to presspersons after a Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister recalled that the Union Minister had said that the Centre would not restore the quotas and had advised the State to purchase rice from the open market in other States. “The Union Minister’s stand is highly objectionable,” he said.

Mr. Achuthanandan said the all-party delegation, which met the Union Minister, had tried to convince him that his stand was unjust. However, Mr. Pawar adopted a negative attitude. He (Mr. Achuthanandan) did not know whether this was because a member of the Assembly from his party was not included in the delegation.

The Centre, he noted, had been abandoning the policy of supporting public distribution systems in the States. Monopolies such as Reliance were allowed to procure rice and wheat and store them in FCI godowns.

On Pawar’s comment

Asked about Mr. Pawar’s comment that the Kerala government was playing politics, Mr. Achuthanandan said that it was Mr. Pawar who had been playing politics.

The Opposition members had also been witness to the stand taken by him. Though the talks were cordial, the delegation had to point out the policy aberrations after Mr. Pawar adopted a negative attitude. The Union Minister was asked whether his Ministry was not trying to undermine the public distribution system.

The Chief Minister said that the delegation had brought the issue to the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Shivraj Patil also.

The Prime Minister had promised to restore the PDS quota, considering that Kerala had an efficient public distribution system for long. Noting that the UPA had Ministers belonging to different parties, Mr. Singh had said that he did not understand the stand taken by Mr. Pawar.

The Home Minister had promised to release a substantial portion of Central assistance for crop loss in the State immediately, as an advance, pending final decision on the State’s memorandum for assistance.

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