New Delhi:
Ally and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said it in a letter. Today, Narendra Modi has used a more public platform - Twitter. The Gujarat Chief Minister has attacked the UPA government at the Centre on what he calls its "anti-farmer policies;" Mr Pawar's letter affording him a decided smirk.
Mr Modi tweeted today, "the UPA ignores our repeated pleas against anti-farmer policies. Wonder if they'll respond to their own Agriculture Minister."
Mr Pawar had reportedly shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday saying that the government's policies were hurting farmers, who were being asked to subsidise industry.
The NCP leader is upset about curbs on milk, cotton and sugar exports; he wrote the letter a day after a group of ministers disallowed cotton export beyond 13 million bales for the current marketing year.
Mr Pawar strongly criticised the Food Ministry headed by K V Thomas and the Textile Ministry under Anand Sharma's charge for policies he called "ambivalent" and against farmers. Describing restrictions on cotton exports as "retrograde", the NCP chief said: "Indian cotton farmers should not be asked to bear the burden of subsidising the textile mills."
There is context to Mr Modi's tweet - he too had written to the Prime Minister on the issue, his party, the BJP, said. So it was rare support that Mr Pawar got when the BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Mr Pawar's letter is very relevant...the decision making of the government is puzzling their own cabinet members. There is policy paralysis, decisions which cannot be comprehended by allies; to their own ministers they have shown indifference."
The Congress refused comment on Mr Pawar's letter, with spokesman Rashid Alvi only saying, "We don't have any information about his letter but if he has written to the PM, I am sure the PM will go through it and take an appropriate decision."