Chidambaram slams Sitharaman for ‘UPA wasted decade’ remark

Intervening during the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Sitharaman had said the UPA "wasted a decade because of corruption and cronyism

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday hit out at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her “UPA wasted a decade” remark, saying while the GDP growth rate during 2004-2014 was 7.5 per cent, it is just 5.7 per cent during the the first nine years of the NDA government.

Intervening during the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Sitharaman had said the UPA “wasted a decade because of corruption and cronyism”.

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“Today, every crisis has been changed into an opportunity. We are living in high growth, low inflation, while it was the other way during UPA,” she had said.

Chidambaram said he read in the newspapers that the Finance Minister in the debate on the no-confidence motion, “accused the UPA regime of wasting an entire decade, referring to its tenure from 2004 to 2014”.

“I am afraid that the Hon’ble FM is living in a world of imagination and hallucinations,” said Chidambaram, who was the finance minister twice during the UPA rule.

According to the government’s data, the GDP growth rate during the five year period 2004-2009 was 8.5 per cent, he said. “And the GDP growth rate during the ten year period 2004-2014 was 7.5 per cent,” he said.

Those were the highest growth rates ever achieved in any five year or 10-year period, Chidambaram asserted.

“As for the record of the NDA, the Hon’ble FM should stand before a Truth Mirror and ask the question. The Truth Mirror will answer that the GDP growth rate in the first nine years of the NDA government was 5.7 per cent,” he said.

“Let’s leave it to the people to decide who wasted the time and the opportunity,” Chidambaram said.

In her remarks, Sitharaman had said India is in a unique position of being optimistic and positive about its future growth when the global economy is struggling, and asserted the Modi government has transformed governance by delivering on its promises.