New Delhi: Launching a fierce counter-attack on Yashwant Sinha, who had blamed him for making a mess of the economy, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday reminded Mr Sinha of his own track record and also that he was replaced from the finance portfolio by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
He pointed out that NPAs of banks during Mr Sinha tenure as finance minister had hit a high of 15 per cent in 1998-2002 and in 1991 the foreign reserves of country had fallen to just $4 billion putting the country to a crisis.
Tearing apart Mr Sinha’s claims on the current state of economy, Mr Jaitley also made an obvious reference to accusations that Mr Sinha wrote the article on the economic slowdown because of disgruntlement of not being accommodated in the government when he suggested that “a job applicant at 80” should be added to the title of the book India @70 Modi @3.5: Capturing India’s transformation under Narendra Modi, which he had released.
“The title of your book should have been India at 70, Modi at 3.5 and a job applicant at 80,” said Mr Jaitley.
He recalled how BJP leader L.K. Advani had advised him back in 1991 to speak on issues and avoid speaking on persons. “I don’t have yet the luxury of being a former finance minister turned columnist and conveniently forget the policy paralysis (during UPA), 15 per cent NPA in 1998-2002 (when Mr Sinha was finance minister) and $4 billion forex reserves left in 1991.
“Speaking of persons and then bypassing the issues is something which is very easily done,” he said.
He accused Mr Sinha of acting in tandem with senior Congress leader and former finance minister P. Chidambaram, forgetting the harsh words the two had used for each other.
