Yashwant Sinha likens Chidambaram to an ’incompetent doctor’

Mangalore Today/DHNS

New Delhi,Aug 27: As the rupee breached 66 to a dollar and the Sensex tanked almost 600 points, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha of the BJP today called for early elections, ripping into the UPA government for "playing havoc with the economy."

Speaking during a discussion on the economy in the Lok Sabha, Mr Sinha likened Finance Minister P Chidambaram to an "incompetent doctor" for failing to curb India’s alarming fiscal deficit and said a paralysis in decision-making was the main reason behind the current economic crisis.

 

"If you run a large fiscal deficit then it will have an effect on inflation. A large fiscal deficit will spill over to current account deficit... It’s a vicious cycle," said Mr Sinha.

He hit out at Mr Chidambaram’s call for "patience and calm" in his opening statement, saying scathingly, "The rupee has touched 66.08, but Bhakt Charan Das says we have nothing to worry about." Mr Das was one of the speakers from the treasury.

Mr Sinha also accused the Congress-led UPA government of losing control over financial matters after pushing the economy into a crisis by its "profligacy five years ago" as it headed towards elections in 2009.

The BJP leader also mocked the government’s various attempts to keep foreign exchange in the country and said steps like raising the import duty on gold alone would not solve the problem.
 
In his opening remarks, Mr Chidambaram said the rupee has overshot its true value but expressed confidence that "it will find its appropriate level."
 
He attributed the high fiscal deficit and current account deficit to decisions taken after the global meltdown of 2008, as western economies collapsed. "It brought us growth, it stabilised the economy, we swayed off the very serious consequences of the 2008 collapse of the US economy. But it cost us in terms of fiscal deficit and current account deficit," Mr Chidambaram said.
 
The government, he said, had taken steps to check fiscal deficit and is now on path of fiscal consolidation.