RS MP Chandrasekhar counters Yashwant, lauds Govt for piloting economy

New Delhi, Sept 29: Yet another lawmaker, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Friday joined the debate on Indian economy and maintained that the Narendra Modi government during last three years has "steadily built it back" from the state of "brink" since Congress-led UPA left office in 2014. Joining issue with former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's diagnosis of the malady of the economic condition, Mr Chandrasekhar, Independent Member from Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, said, "The Indian economy in 2014 was on the brink, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The fact that the UPA was responsible for that cannot easily be erased from the public memory". In an article in 'Indian Express' titled, 'I too Need to speak up', the Rajya Sabha MP wrote: "This government (under PM Narendra Modi) inherited such an economy and has steadily built it back over the last three years to one where the GDP has grown, per capita income has increased, foreign direct investments are at a historic high of almost $160 billion, foreign exchange reserves are at the record level of almost $400 billion, inflation has moderated". He further wrote, "Yashwant Sinha’s recent article (‘Ineed to speak up now') -- about the economy concludes more in hope, than on facts, that the economy is headed for a “hard landing”. He joins some others in a desperate attempt to build a narrative of a failing economy". "This is wishful thinking because nothing is further from the truth," he said. The lawmaker - otherwise known for anti-Congress leaning, also joined issue with Mr P Chidamdam and wrote, 'P Chidambaram’s rush to embrace Sinha’s article is amusing and ironic because despite inheriting, by his own admission, a robust economy from the NDA-1 government in 2004, he (Chidambaram) presided over a spectacular destruction of the economy when UPA-2 was in office". "Sinha himself has described Chidambaram as the FM who caused the GDP to decline. Perhaps Chidambaram too hopes, as Sushil Kumar Shinde had after the UPA’s scams: The memory of the Indian public is short. But those dark days of the UPA aren’t easily forgotten". UNI