BJP's Yashwant Sinha asks 18 questions to P Chidambaram on economy

NEW DELHI: With state of the economy among the issues that BJP is flagging in the Lok Sabha elections, senior party MP Yashwant Sinha slammed Finance Minister P Chidambaram posing 18 questions to him and describing him as a spoiler who will hand over a big burden on the next government.

Sinha, who was finance minister in the NDA government, attacked Chidambaram on issues ranging from infrastructure, sliding rupee and subsidies to growth rate and price rise at a press interaction here on Sunday. He alleged that Chidambaram had built a reputation of taking charge of the finance ministry at times when the economy was robust and then running it down.

"Chidambaram will be remembered by history as a spoiler, as someone who specialises in sub 5% growth rate, for hubris, arrogance and his habit of making baseless tall claims. He has lost all credibility," Sinha said.

He further charged that UPA regime is set to leave behind a big subsidy burden for the next government. BJP sought to know from Chidambaram whether he had not brought down economic growth to 4.5% in two years after he took over as finance minister in 1996; whether it is not a fact that as FM in UPA-I he inherited a robust economy (from the NDA) which had grown at the rate of 8%.

"Is it a fact that for purely electoral considerations you allowed the fiscal deficit to cross all limits of sustainability in 2008-09 through unproductive and irresponsible government spending from which the budget of the Government of India has not recovered yet?" Sinha asked Chidambaram.