New Delhi: Former commerce minister Anand Sharma Thursday accused Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of “misinforming Parliament” over agreements reached on the ninth WTO Ministerial Convention in Bali in December 2013, rejecting her allegation that the earlier Congress-led UPA authorities had compromised India’s meals safety pursuits.

In a press release, Sharma mentioned it was “unlucky and stunning” that Sitharaman levelled what he described as an “unfair allegation” that the UPA “offered out” India’s proper to meals safety on the WTO meet.

Addressing the Lok Sabha Wednesday, Sitharaman, responding to Rahul Gandhi’s cost that the Modi authorities bowed to US stress in signing an interim commerce deal, alleged it was the UPA which compromised India’s pursuits in 2013 by signing the Commerce Facilitation Settlement (TFA) with out first securing protections for India’s public stockholding of meals grains.

Assertion by Shri Anand Sharma, Former Commerce and Business Minister, on WTO. pic.twitter.com/OwFEfGxx3h

— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) February 12, 2026

Sharma countered Sitharaman, saying her remarks have been “orchestrated for political features”. Reasonably than caving in to stress mounted by developed nations together with the US, New Delhi managed to put the difficulty of public stockholding for meals safety onto the Bali ministerial agenda, he mentioned.

On the 2013 WTO meet, a key dispute was over India’s meals grain procurement and subsidy programmes, which exceeded the WTO’s 10 p.c cap on sure farm subsidies. Member nations had then agreed to an interim “peace clause” underneath which nations wouldn’t legally problem creating nations like India over these breaches whereas talks continued on a everlasting resolution for meals safety programmes. 

Sharma mentioned India succeeded in constructing a broad coalition of creating nations throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, which in flip compelled developed nations to comply with negotiations for a everlasting resolution to what he described as “dated and inherently flawed” WTO guidelines governing agricultural subsidies.

“Bali ministerial had reached ten agreements which included preferential market entry for LDC (least developed) nations and TFA. India led coalition of creating nations, had solely agreed to the WTO agreements after first securing the proper of Public Stockholding of meals grains for meals safety functions,” mentioned Sharma. 

He added that the safety secured went past a short-term association and successfully positioned India’s MSP-linked public stockholding programmes “past authorized problem” on the WTO. 

“The then Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an act of political upmanship had mentioned in Parliament {that a} Everlasting settlement will probably be concluded earlier than December 2015 as per the peace of mind given by US President to PM Modi. Nevertheless, regardless of a lapse of 12 years from the Bali Ministerial Declaration and 11 years from the Common Council choice, a everlasting resolution to the issue is but to be arrived at,” Sharma added.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)

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