Gandhinagar, Feb 13 (IANS) Rising sugar prices may have soured the morning cup of tea, but Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Tushar Chaudhary Saturday said that it was “happy times” for sugarcane growers.
“These are happy times for sugarcane growers as those who sweat and toil to grow it are getting better prices for their produce,” Chaudhary, elected from sugarcane belt Mandvi in south Gujarat, said at a farmers rally in Bardoli.

“I know the rising prices disturb many but I have cause to be satisfied as the sugarcane growing farmers are getting remunerative returns for their toils,” he said.

“What can a farmer ask for? If the people who elected me are happy, I am happy,” he added.

If Chaudhary was ‘happy’, HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal, who was attending a seminar on education at the Gujarat University here, was evasive when asked about the spiralling prices of essential commodities.

“The subject has been widely discussed,” he said.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was stridently aggressive on the subject.

Speaking at a Garib Kalyan Mela in Surendrangar, the chief minister said: “We are trying hard to ensure that the wages of development reach the poorest of the poor. These fairs are an earnest effort in this regard. But all our good work stand neutralized by the ineffectiveness of the UPA government which lacks the will to curb prices.”

“I have told the prime minister in no uncertain terms about it,” he added.