Centre aiding8217; Pak through sugar import, mocks Pawar

AMBAJOGAI BEED, JAN 8: With Sharad Pawar's statement condemning Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for attempting to disrupt the forthcoming...

AMBAJOGAI BEED, JAN 8: With Sharad Pawar8217;s statement condemning Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for attempting to disrupt the forthcoming Indo-Pak cricket series in India still reverberating all over the country, the Congress stalwart and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha accused the ruling saffron alliance partners of speaking with a forked tongue.

Addressing a farmers8217; rally at the Monda grounds here today, Pawar wondered how the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre could import sugar from Pakistan, which had on its hands the blood of the Kashmiri people. Amid the shifting sands of votebank politics, he said the Congress is strongly opposed to the import of sugar from the neighbouring country at a time when almost one crore tonnes of the essential commodity is surplus in India.

8220;On the one hand, the BJP harps on the swadeshi tenets and on the other it goes on to fill the coffers of a terrorist-sponsoring nation,8221; he thundered. 8220;It is as if the BJP has suddenly realised thatPakistan doesn8217;t have enough money left with it to continue bombarding innocent lives in Kashimir and now means are being found to help the cash-strapped nation,8221; Pawar bellowed in inimitable style.

The rally, attended by over 22,000 farmers from across the Kaij Assembly constituency in Beed district, was organised by supporters of the sitting BJP MLA, Dr Vimal Mundada, who is on the threshold of the Congress.

In his 30-minute speech delivered in Marathi, Pawar chose his words with careful disdain while referring to leaders of the saffron alliance. But the crowd loved every bit of it. The farmers cheered Pawar on as he referred to the chief minister as 8220;Joshya8221; and the deputy chief minister as 8220;Mundya8221;. Then, meshing subtly with just the right amount of clarity, he went on to call an unnamed BJP minister a bail bull for making 8220;a ridiculous plea to his Cabinet colleagues to increase the assured price for cotton purchase through the monopoly scheme. 8220;Doesn8217;t he realise how funny it is forministers to make pleas to each other? If he the minister wants it to be so, why doesn8217;t he go ahead and take a decision in the Cabinet?8221; Pawar asked.

Pawar reiterated that if anyone, it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi who deserved to hold that post to pull the nation out of the 8220;series of crises8221; it finds itself in.

Though the Congress leader cocked a snook at the chief minister and his remote control, Bal Thackeray, he clearly singled out Munde, who hails from Beed, to sound the bugle of war ahead of the 2000 Assembly elections. 8220;I do not know what bouts of fits Munde experienced when he said the State has enough of power to distribute to neighbouring states as well,8221; Pawar said.