BJP supporters demonstrate in New Delhi against the price rise. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha

New Delhi, Feb. 16: The BJP today suggested that Sharad Pawar change his designation from “agriculture minister to cricket minister” for his alleged failure in tackling the farmers’ crisis.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javdekar, going hammer and tongs at the UPA government over the spiralling prices of essential commodities, picked four cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as his prime targets. He accused them of being involved in issues other than those concerning their portfolios.

According to Javdekar, the Prime Minister suffers from an “obsession” with Pakistan and foreign affairs. “The Prime Minister has forgotten that his core competency is in economics. He seems to be perennially obsessed with Pakistan.”

After Singh, it was Pawar’s turn to face the music. “He is constantly busy with ICC elections, his work in the Board of Cricket Control in India. Where does he have the time to think about tackling the supply side constraints which, incidentally, are the root cause of the trigger in prices of primary articles,” Javdekar said.

If Pawar is occupied with cricket, according to the BJP leader, commerce minister Kamal Nath is busy “snatching” agricultural land from farmers for setting up special economic zones.

“He is so busy that he failed to take timely actions like banning wheat and onion exports, importing pulses and other necessities. Even fuel prices were not reduced in tandem with smoothening of international prices. The latest reduction in fuel prices is too little and has come too late,” he said.

The finance minister was the last in the line of fire. “The finance minister, P. Chidambaram, is in constant denial mode and is happy with mere fiscal measures, rather than concentrating on his real task of managing the economy at macro and micro levels,” Javdekar said.

“The government seems to be confused, clueless and trapped between the populist sloganeering and pressure from the Left. Political expediency is no substitute for sound economics,” he summed up.