P Chidambaram hits out Arun Jaitley's defence; raises three questions on economy to Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Hitting back at BJP leader Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he has "carefully avoided" questions that he had raised about Narendra Modi and asked why the Gujarat Chief Minister spoke nothing about various economic issues.

Reacting to Jaitley's comments on his views on Modi in a TV interview, Chidambaram said he expected him to rush to the defence of Modi and he had not disappointed him.

"He has responded to my lighter-vein comment on 'back of a postage stamp' and I enjoy such exchanges. However, he (Jaitley) has carefully avoided the other questions that I raised.

"Why has Shri Modi said nothing about the fiscal deficit, nothing about the Current Account Deficit and nothing about monetary policy," the Minister said.

Chidambaram said he had further questions "why do Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat oppose Goods and Services Tax (GST) and prevent a consensus? Why did Shri Modi write to Prime Minister opposing the Food Security Act? If Indian-owned multi-brand retail will not destroy jobs, how will FDI in multi-brand retail destroy jobs?"

In an interview to BBC, Chidambaram had said that the amount of economics that Modi knows can be written on the backside of a postal stamp.

Jaitley had yesterday attacked Chidambaram saying he thinks he is the "principal repository of all economic wisdom" even when the country's growth story being turned into a "nightmare".