The rift between the Congress Party and Nationalist Congress Party seems to have found a new battleground Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank.
Refusing to blame the Bharatiya Janata Party for the attack on him, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday sought to downplay the incident and asked Nationalist Congress Party workers not to take the law into their hands and maintain peace. "I don't think it is appropriate for me to blame any political party for the incident. I should not go to that level of blaming anyone," he told reporters outside his residence, hours after a young man slapped him.
The Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank have also expressed their worries over high inflation.
A free for all has broken out within the government, between the government and the Congress, between the Congress and the Opposition as well as within the sports (read cricket) fraternity over the charge made by former cricketer Vinod Kambli that the 1996 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka was fixed.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday appeared critical of Army chief V K Singh over his allegation that he was offered bribe to clear a defence deal.
Mumbai on Sunday witnessed the birthday celebration of two political heavy weights Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde.
In the first sign of dissent within the ruling UPA government, Agriculture & Food Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday indicated that covering two-thirds of the population under the proposed Food Security Bill was not feasible.
Under attack from social activist and anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday quit the Group of Ministers on corruption, saying he does not want to be "associated" with the panel anymore.
Nicotin Sulfate and Captafol have been banned for use in the country but their manufacture is allowed for export, he said adding four pesticide formulations have been banned for import, manufacture and use while seven others have been withdrawn.
With his ministerial colleagues and experts expressing reservation on moratorium on Bt-brinjal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of concerned ministers on the issue this week.
The Congress Working Committee meeting witnessed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar being targetted by senior Congress leaders on the issue of spiraling price rise. The three leaders who attacked Sharad Pawar but did not name him were former maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, All India Congress Committee general secretaries R K Dhawan and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
Arvinder Singh, who was arrested for slapping Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a function in New Delhi in November, was on Monday granted bail by a Delhi court. District Judge H S Sharma granted bail to Singh while directing him against indulging in any violent activity in the future. Singh was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and a surety of like amount.
Replying to a Calling Attention notice on rotting of foodgrains at various FCI godowns, Pawar said foodgrains stock in the Central Pool has increased three-folds since 2006, which has ensured better and remunerative prices to farmers.
While the progress of the monsoon has brightened the prospects of foodgrain production, the fall in sown area is a matter of concern, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar tells Sanjay Jog.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi, Pawar said that Team Anna had the right to express their views on the anti-graft bill, but it was the prerogative of the Parliament to determine whether to incorporate those views in the bill or not.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to bring out a report on the state of Indian agriculture, to be presented to Parliament every year before the Union Budget.
After committing a faux pas in his reaction to the attack on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Anna Hazare said on Thursday that he was ready to apologise if his remark was perceived to be "wrong".
The Union agriculture ministry plans to invite private investment in its project to promote hybrid rice to increase output, particularly in eastern states.
The National Advisory Council, headed by United Progressive Alliance Chairman Sonia Gandhi, will also meet on Thursday to look at the Food Security Bill, a crucial component of the second UPA government's promise to provide cheap and plentiful food to the poor.
Amid the tape controversy, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said the government should take note of Ratan Tata's statement that India risked turning into a 'banana republic'.
The United Progressive Alliance's first anniversary celebrations tomorrow are essentially going to be a Congress affair. Barring Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, no other top leader of any of the ally or supporting parties is expected to be present at the bash to mark six years in office of the Congress-led coalition.
In a statement to the CBI, which has been filed as part of the chargesheet in the 2G scam, Radia is also said to have alleged that Pawar could have had a major role in helping Swan Telecom obtain the licence and also get 2G spectrum.
Ruling out the possibility of union ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel resigning in the wake of the IPL controversy, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday dismissed reports about the involvement of any of its leaders or their relatives in any financial wrongdoings in the cricket league. Party spokesman D P Tripathi saw nothing wrong in Civil Aviation Minister Patel's 'personal office' forwarding projections of new franchisee valuations to Tharoor.
On the complaint of shortage of foodgrain, the minister said lifting of foodgrain by states/Union Territories under TPDS and other welfare schemes has been less than the allocation made to them.
Sule, who is being projected as Pawar's heir apparent, has clarified that neither Pawar nor any member of the Pawar family had any investments in IPL. She preferred sugarcane-rich Kolhapur in Maharashtra to issue the clarification.
Social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death entered the third day on Thursday even as a large number of people from various walks of life continued to extend support to the crusader for a stronger anti-corruption law.
India would be represented by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who arrived in Moscow on Wednesday night on a three-day visit.
Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said his party would go it alone in the zilla parishad polls in Maharashtra, if Congress was not keen to have an alliance.
Pawar on a tour to the three Latin American countries, including Mexico and Argentina, will meet representatives of the sugar and the ethanol industries.
Stocks of sugar companies rose after the development. At the Bombay Stock Exchange, Bajaj Hindusthan, India's biggest producer, gained 4.25 per cent to close at Rs 121.35, Balrampur Chini gained three per cent and closed at Rs 88 while Renuka Sugars gained four per cent to Rs 68.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Monday held Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar responsible for the unprecedented rise in food prices in India.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday disapproved of Union minister Sharad Pawar's meeting with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, making it clear that his government was 'competent enough' to give adequate security to IPL matches."I do not think there is need to take permission from any other authority in the state. There cannot be an extra-constitutional authority," Chavan told reporters, adding, "the government is competent, it is the authority."
Shiv Sena spokesman Rahul Narvekar, who recently withdrew his candidature from the legislative council elections, met Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Sunday morning.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said there is no need to encourage foreign direct investment in the farm sector as large number of farmers have small holdings, but welcomed FDI in the food processing sector.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Monday came out in strong defence of Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar facing criticism for price rise and said all decisions on the issue were taken collectively.
For the first time in 25 years, all the trade unions, including INTUC and Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh have forged an ideological link on the issue of price rise and food security. These TUs would launch a fill-the-jail campaign on March five across the country, the CPI leader said.
RBI in its monetary policy review on Friday is expected to suck out liquidity from the system to prevent spread of inflation to manufactured items.
After Pawar's remark on Sunday that policy decisions are collectively made by the Cabinet, including the prime minister, Congress said on Monday the agriculture ministry headed by him should work proactively with states to lower prices of essential commodities.
Countering Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's statement on introducing Bt brinjal in the market, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Centre has every right to take the final decision when public safety is concerned.
A Cabinet reshuffle is likely by July 10, a fortnight before the monsoon session of Parliament begins. The Congress wants its allies like the Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to hand over some of their high-profile and 'profitable' portfolios. The ruling party reportedly wants Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to part with the food portfolio, so that it can be allotted to Congress's new found ally Ajit Singh.
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