By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday boycotted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s meeting with state chief ministers in New Delhi to discuss the price rise in the country.
The state was represented by Finance Minister Lalji Verma, who read out a statement on Mayawati’s behalf.
While quite blatantly giving her government a clean chit, Mayawati did not mince words in passing the buck to the central government for the “unprecedented rise in prices of essential goods”.
Maywati expressed Jan 14 her intention to boycott the meeting.
“I will not attend the prime minister’s meeting unless he removes union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar from his cabinet because Pawar’s policies alone were largely responsible for the price rise,” Mayawati had said at a press conference.
The whole tenor of the seven-page statement read out in the meeting was against the policies of the central government.
“We have always been taking all necessary steps to keep the prices in check, but the desired support from the centre was never forthcoming,” the statement said.
“Take for instance, our (state government’s) ban on import of raw sugar until the end of the sugarcane crushing season, which was in sharp contrast to the union government’s decision to continue importing sugar,” it said.
Claiming that the state government had also taken stern measures against hoarders and black-marketeers, Mayawati alleged that the central government had failed to take any steps to curb undue profiteering by big industrial houses.
The chief minister gave out a detailed account of what her government had done to ensure proper procurement of paddy and wheat besides ensuring remunerative price to the farmer.
“We have also taken care to regulate the sale and distribution of essential goods at regulated rates and have been selling ‘pea dal’ at a rate of Rs. 15 a kilo,” she claimed.
Mayawati went on to add that her government had done its bit to keep the price of sugar under check.