Date:04/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/04/stories/2006070402421200.htm

National

Never opposed wheat import: Aiyar

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Union Panchayati Raj Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday distanced himself from the Left parties' stand against wheat import and said that the comments attributed to him as opposing the import were incorrect.

"I want to state that I never opposed wheat import," Mr. Aiyar said. "I am not against wheat import. When you need such an essential requirement you do need to use your resources to import," he told reporters while clarifying his position.

A section of the press had quoted Mr. Aiyar as saying that he was opposed to wheat import and supported the Left parties.

Following that report a section of the media began painting him as a dissident in the United Progressive Alliance that was a clear distortion. "I am not a dissident," he asserted.

Mr. Aiyar said he had never stated that economic reforms could not go hand in hand with a human face. "The two can go together and I am a believer of the UPA's commitment for economic reforms with a human face."

He said that the point he had made was in connection with the agrarian crisis, to which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had drawn attention to when he visited Vidharbha last week.