Launching a frontal attack on Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the BJP on Sunday suggested that if voted to power it would review policies initiated by the UPA-II government. The saffron party fielded its former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to take on Chidambaram for “running the economy to the ground” every time the latter took over the reigns of the Finance Ministry.
Chidambaram has come under severe attack from the BJP as several leaders have pounded him in the last few days. “Chidambaram will be remembered by history as a spoiler, as someone who specialises in sub 5 per cent growth rate, for your hubris and for your baseless tall claims which you do not tire of making even today. Your words and statements have lost all credibility,” Sinha rubbed it in, while posing 18 questions to the minister over the state of the economy.
Referring to the controversial issue of gas pricing, Sinha said there was a case for re-examining the various parameters of the cost plus formula which has been adopted. He hinted that the NDA may revisit the proposal to double the price of gas from Reliance Industries’ KG Basin, if it is voted to power. The senior BJP leader added that since the next government would be formed with Narendra Modi as prime minister, the BSE Sensex has already responded with enthusiasm. He took a swipe at Chidambaram saying that the day he announced his decision not to contest the elections, the Sensex again jumped several points. “You wait and see how the Sensex would perform when the results are declared on May 16,” Sinha said underscoring the positive mood in the market towards the BJP government. He, however, sidestepped questions on his political future during the press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi.