Friday, July 2, 2010

UPA govt seeks to cut Minister Pawar's powers

UPA


New Delhi: The UPA government is considering curtailing the powers of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar after he took over as the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday.

Sources have told CNN-IBN that Pawar's portfolio as Agriculture and Food and Civil supplies minister could be divided. The Food and Civil Supplies Ministry could be taken away from him.

Pawar, a former BCCI president, has been under criticism for spiralling food prices in the country and his critics accuse him of giving more time to cricket than his ministr
Sources tell CNN-IBN that the general sentiment in the Congress is that saddled by the additional responsibility of ICC president, Pawar might not be able to concentrate on controlling food prices. Pawar has said he will have to visit the Dubai headquarters “three to four” days in a month but it will not affect his work as a minister.

“Dubai works on Saturday and Sunday, so generally I have to spend three to four days in a month. It's a matter of a two-hour flight, so I think there won't be any difficulty. Secondly I will discuss with Prime Minister about my responsibilities and will take appropriate decision that my government work is not affected,” he said on Friday.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are worried that the rising inflation might affect their chances when West Bengal and Tamil Nadu go to polls next year.

ibnlive.in.com

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