He also said that parties should not "politicise the misery of the people".

The Prime Minister's statement came after a 45-minute meeting with leaders of the Left parties, who went to him with a charter of demands and measures to contain inflation.

Left leaders who met the prime minister got an inkling of his combative mood when he said that there would be enough rice in Kerala only when the West Bengal government improves its procurement of paddy.

Both the states are under Left rule and the statement did not go down well with the Left leaders.

"The government should stop being callous about the plight of the people," said CPI (M) Parliamentary Party Spokesperson Sitaram Yechury.

While making the point that inflation in India was lower than many other developing countries, Singh said the government was confident of increasing procurement of foodgrain and had already raised the minimum support prices paid to farmers.

Observing that there were indications of improved farm production this year, he said a normal monsoon was expected this year, which should further increase agricultural production.

The prime minister told the delegation that agricultural production in India was "rising in a robust manner in the 1980s and in the early-1990s. It was only after 1996 that agriculture has been neglected".