PM, Chidambaram and Montek 'failed' economists: BJP

Continuing its tirade against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh outside Parliament following his aggressive stance in Rajya Sabha on Friday, BJP today termed him as a "failed economist" and attributed current economic woes to the flagship schemes of UPA government.
While holding the prime minister responsible for "unabated slide of rupee", senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi also termed Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia as "failures".
"As far as economy is concerned, Manmohan, Montek and Chidambaram have failed. In my view, they are not economists but rather bad or useless economists... UPA has lost the mandate to rule the country," Joshi told reporters at the party office here.

Joshi alleged that downward spiral of economy started the day Chidambaram took charge as Finance minister of the country.
On Chidambaram's comments in Lok Sabha on August 27, which were largely interpreted as insinuating President Pranab Mukherjee for being responsible for current economic woes as former finance minister, Joshi said, "It is for the first time in the country's history that any finance minister has blamed his predecessor for economic mess".
The Varanasi MP alleged that populist schemes like MNREGA and Food Security Bill are proving to be a drag on the country's finances and are pushing up inflation.

"The government is going to pump in crores of rupees under the Food Security legislation. Such allotments are not only unproductive but counterproductive as well as they push up inflation," he said.

During a debate in Rajya Sabha on Friday, the prime minister attacked the opposition for hampering growth and hurting investor sentiment by repeatedly disrupting Parliament.
In a counter-attack, the Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley yesterday told party's Legal and Legislative Cell in New Delhi that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's attitude was one of "anger" and "pessimism" and this shows he has "run out of ideas" for reviving the economy.