BJP-led Centre will have to pay heavy price in Lok Sabha polls for inflation: Sharad Pawar

MUMBAI: The BJP-led government at the Centre will have to pay a heavy price in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as a result of rising prices of daily use items, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters in Nashik, Pawar also said the government's decisions related to onion export, its "arbitrary policies" on ethanol and sugar industry have created disappointment among the farming community, which will reflect in the upcoming general elections.

"The rising prices of various daily use items, arbitrary policies related to onion, ethanol and sugar industry have upset the farming community in the state. The Union government will have to pay a heavy price for it in the upcoming parliamentary elections," he said.

The former Union agriculture minister was referring to the Centre's ban on onion export as well as ban on the use of sugarcane juice for making ethanol.

On the seat-sharing formula of the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), Pawar said discussion on most of the Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra is complete.

There are two to four seats on which candidates of the Prakash Ambedkar-led VBA can be fielded, so that all four major parties can jointly contest the parliamentary elections, he said.

"As all of us are running against time, we three major parties of the MVA have started our campaign in the state. We have a very limited time in our hands ahead of the general elections," he said.

The NCP (SP) chief also alleged, "The Union government has nothing to show in its performance to the people. Hence, it is misusing institutions like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to launch an attack on us."