Pawar criticised the Vajpayee government for increasing the prices of all the essential commodities few days before the budget. Pointing out that the government had hiked the prices of food grains in public distribution system, sugar and petrol, Pawar said the decision had imposed additional financial burden on the people, ``making their lives miserable''.

Pawar said the BJP had ``thrown all norms of parliamentary politics to the wind'' by increasing the prices few days before the budget and wondered whether it was the same party which launched agitations against price hike while in Opposition. He said the government's recent decisions had proved that it had forgotten its basic duties and responsibilities.

Pawar also came down heavily on the BJP for failing to contain the violence allegedly unleashed by theSangh Parivar outfits against Christian community in the country. He said the Orissa incident defamed the country's pride and dignity in the international scene and added that the BJP ``had lost moral ground to run the government''.