Karnataka: Siddaramaiah attacks Centre for slump in economy

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday launched an attack on the Centre for the slump in GDP numbers in the second quarter of the current financial year.

"The BJP is the only party which gave politicians to scale the economy in terms of collections from the box office. Because of such disastrous ministers, the GDP has gone down to 4.5 per cent. If 10 Hindi movies flop, will they consider the country is financially bankrupt and resign," Siddarmaiah's tweet in Kannada, translated in English, reads.

The Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly was referring to an earlier comment made by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Dismissing concerns about an economic slowdown, Prasad in October had cited the earnings of three movies on October 2, saying that they collectively earned Rs 120 crore in a day and hence the economy of the country is "sound."

Addressing a press conference, Prasad had said: "On October 2, three movies were released. Film trade analyst Komal Nahta had said that the day saw earning of over Rs 120 crore, a record by the three movies. The economy of the country is sound. That is why there is a return of Rs 120 crore in a day."

"I was the Information and Broadcasting Minister in the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government. I am fond of movies. There has been a huge business of movies," he added.

The economic growth slowed to 4.5 per cent in the July to September quarter from 7.1 per cent in the corresponding period of last year, according to the government data released in November.

The slowdown in Q2 FY20 was largely due to a sharp dip in the manufacturing sector and agriculture output, said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement.

The weak GDP growth in Q2 was also caused by grim industrial output data which contracted 0.4 per cent during the quarter against 3 per cent expansion in the preceding three months.