The Congress on Friday mounted pressure on the NCP ahead of their expected poll alliance in Maharashtra, with leaders saying they would have no truck with NCP ally Jan Surajya Shakti (JSS), and a Congress-dominated Lok Sabha Estimates Committee picking holes in figures presented by NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s Ministry.

Early this week, senior Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi had accused Pawar of misrepresenting facts about the availability of sugar. On Friday, the Estimates Committee, whose 30 members include many Congress MPs, picked out discrepancies in figures presented by the Department of Agriculture on Thursday and those given by the Department of Food & Public Distribution, sources said.

“Between the figures for sown areas presented by the two wings of the same Ministry, there was a difference of 10 lakh hectares. Members also expressed concerns about the Ministry’s ability to stabilise prices,” said a Congress member of the committee. He said that the committee had given a questionnaire on the discrepancies to Ministry officials and sought a reply in a week.

Of the JSS, a Congress leader involved in election preparations said, “They had fielded candidates against ours in the Lok Sabha election. We will not ally with them.” JSS leader Vinay Kore is a minister in Ashok Chavan government and the party had backed Pawar as prime ministerial candidate.

Pawarspeak

On sugar prices: “I have not received any letter from Sonia Gandhi on sugar prices. We are trying to ensure that sugar is available in ration shops for BPL and APL cardholders in states before festive season. Final decision this week.”

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