The Vajpayee government hiked the prices of foodgrains in a Cabinet meeting last month to reduce the run-away subsidy bill by around Rs 2,700-crore in a full year. However, most of the allies of the BJP-led Government, particularly, Indian National Lok Dal of Chautala and TDP had threatened to withdraw their support from the Government if it fails to revoke the recent price hike.

Justifying the hike, Yadav said that it was a hard decision taken to reduce the burden of huge subsidies. He, however, added that the roll-back of prices for those below poverty line (BPL) was taken as the allied parties had opposed it.

He said that the Government did not hike the prices of foodgrains under the public distribution systems (PDS) since 1994 and hence it was necessaryto rise the prices. During the last five years the Government increased the rate of guarantee price of wheat and rice substantially and hence bills of subsidies increased accordingly, he pointed out.

He said that the Government maintained the same rate for BPL while it raised the prices of foodgrains for above poverty line (APL) people. The people of APL will now have to pay Rs 9.05 per kg for rice instead of Rs 8.05 while they have to pay Rs 5.50 instead of Rs 4.50 per kg for wheat under the revised rate.

When asked if a further roll-back, benefitting those APL was possible as some parties supporting the Vajpayee government were opposed to the entire price hike, he said that the Government might think over it. "Yes, in democracy when the ruling coalition depends on several parties, anything is possible. You have to respects the opinions of other partners when you are a coalition Government," he said.

Answering a question, the minister admitted that the government was paying a huge amount for overheadsfor supplying the foodgrains to different states. "We are paying almost Rs 300 per quintal for transporting, storing and other heads," he said.

To a query, he said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed 84 cases in connection with the adulteration of mustard oil which had claimed as many as 67 persons in Delhi alone.

He said that the investigation revealed that there was a national-level conspiracy in adulterating of mustard oil to defame the coalition government at the Centre. The charge-sheets were filed under the Food and Adulteration Act, except in one serious case where the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was also applied.

In another question, Yadav said that there was no shortage of sugar or foodgrains in the country and denied that sugar was being imported from the neighbouring Pakistan.