 "Some big businesses like Modi's crony capitalism: FM")
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday described Bharatiya Janata Party Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's brand of capitalism as “crony capitalism”.
“Business is quite comfortable with Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA finance ministers, but there are sections of business which are extremely comfortable with Mr Narendra Modi because his brand of capitalism is crony capitalism,” he said at a press conference at the Congress party’s headquarters here.
Chidambaram is one of the principal spokespersons of the Congress. He also used the end of the financial year press conference to trash former BJP Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha as “a distant memory”. Sinha had on Sunday accused Chidambaram and the UPA of messing up the economy.
The finance minister defended his and the UPA’s record, insisting that they had “substantially accomplished what they had set out to do.”
Chidambaram said there were “deep flaws in Modi’s character” with particular reference to his recent comments connecting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi with the Italian marines issue. “It is a case before the Supreme Court, what does the country of origin of the Congress president have to do with it.”
Treating all the 18 questions put to him by Yashwant Sinha as “puerile”, Chidambaram trashed Sinha’s record as finance minister in the NDA regime, saying “the markets started celebrating the day Sinha announced he would not be contesting”.
Chidambaram, who also headed the Home Ministry earlier, took the opportunity to clarify the Congress’ stand on Modi. “It is wrong to describe the SIT (special investigation team report) as a clean chit, its report has been challenged in the higher court,” he said. To a query whether he would prefer fighting Modi from Varanasi, Chidambaram quipped, “Modi would not want to contest from Sivaganga either.”
The finance minister was, however, on the defensive when asked why he opted out of contesting the polls. Rejecting the argument that the Congress’ prospects were bleak, Chidambaram said he wanted “to pursue reading, writing and spend his time connecting with friends in (the) Tamil literature (fraternity).”
Justifying Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s wooing the new “70 crore strong” segment which is above the BPL and aspires to be within the middle class, Chidambaram said, “There is an aspirational India which resides in the towns and cities, which does not care about caste and religion and the Congress manifesto recognises this quite correctly.”
Asked if the UPA’s unwise policies had cost the Congress allies like the Trinamool Congress, the finance minister responded there was no way the government could accede to Mamata Banerjee’s request for a moratorium on debt repayment without angering other states.
Concluding the interaction with another volley against Modi, Chidambaram lashed against this “image building” exercise, saying its no longer BJP, it is BJP supplanted by Modi, a dangerous trend for a democracy that is party-based.
“For Modi it is only, I, me, mine,” he said.
“Business is quite comfortable with Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA finance ministers, but there are sections of business which are extremely comfortable with Mr Narendra Modi because his brand of capitalism is crony capitalism,” he said at a press conference at the Congress party’s headquarters here.
Chidambaram is one of the principal spokespersons of the Congress. He also used the end of the financial year press conference to trash former BJP Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha as “a distant memory”. Sinha had on Sunday accused Chidambaram and the UPA of messing up the economy.
The finance minister defended his and the UPA’s record, insisting that they had “substantially accomplished what they had set out to do.”
Chidambaram said there were “deep flaws in Modi’s character” with particular reference to his recent comments connecting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi with the Italian marines issue. “It is a case before the Supreme Court, what does the country of origin of the Congress president have to do with it.”
Treating all the 18 questions put to him by Yashwant Sinha as “puerile”, Chidambaram trashed Sinha’s record as finance minister in the NDA regime, saying “the markets started celebrating the day Sinha announced he would not be contesting”.
Chidambaram, who also headed the Home Ministry earlier, took the opportunity to clarify the Congress’ stand on Modi. “It is wrong to describe the SIT (special investigation team report) as a clean chit, its report has been challenged in the higher court,” he said. To a query whether he would prefer fighting Modi from Varanasi, Chidambaram quipped, “Modi would not want to contest from Sivaganga either.”
The finance minister was, however, on the defensive when asked why he opted out of contesting the polls. Rejecting the argument that the Congress’ prospects were bleak, Chidambaram said he wanted “to pursue reading, writing and spend his time connecting with friends in (the) Tamil literature (fraternity).”
Justifying Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s wooing the new “70 crore strong” segment which is above the BPL and aspires to be within the middle class, Chidambaram said, “There is an aspirational India which resides in the towns and cities, which does not care about caste and religion and the Congress manifesto recognises this quite correctly.”
Asked if the UPA’s unwise policies had cost the Congress allies like the Trinamool Congress, the finance minister responded there was no way the government could accede to Mamata Banerjee’s request for a moratorium on debt repayment without angering other states.
Concluding the interaction with another volley against Modi, Chidambaram lashed against this “image building” exercise, saying its no longer BJP, it is BJP supplanted by Modi, a dangerous trend for a democracy that is party-based.
“For Modi it is only, I, me, mine,” he said.
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