Chidambaram counters Modi on growth figures

Finance Minister says BJP's PM candidate is staging a 'fake encounter' with facts

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, known for his number crunching skills, today took on Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi for exaggerating economic growth figures during the tenure of BJP-led coalition. He wondered as to why should Modi stage a "fake encounter" with facts.

Modi is reported to have said that the economic growth rate during the tenure of the Atal Behari Vajpayee government was 8.4% a year on an average.

In a statement, Chidambaram rolled out GDP growth figures during the NDA regime as:

Year	GDP growth
1988-89	6.7%
1999-00	7.6%
2000-01	4.3%
2001-02	5.5%
2002-03	4.0%
2003-04	8.1%

In fact, none of the period, as shown by the Finance Minister, recorded 8.4% growth.

Chidambaram said the average annual growth for the six-year NDA period stood at 6% and that for the last five years at 5.9%.

In contrast, the average annual GDP growth during the first stint of the United Progressive Alliance government was at 8.4%, he said.

"For the first four years of UPA-II, the average has been 7.3%," the finance minister said, adding the two worst years since the turn of the century were 2000-01 (4.3%) and 2002-03 (4%)."

He said If there was a golden period of growth, it was the five year period under UPA-I.

"I wonder why Narendra Modi should stage a fake encounter with facts. Ultimately, facts will prevail," Chidambaram said, using the analogy of charges against the Gujarat government for belying BJP's prime ministerial candidate's claims.