UPA govt facing flak for sliding rupee: Advani

In his latest blog, the senior BJP leader says several columnists have lambasted the govt for failing to control the slide of the currency

BJP leader L K Advani on Monday said Parliament and the media have been abuzz with all round criticism of the manner in which the UPA government has failed to prevent the sliding Rupee and the economic slowdown and its attempt to look for alibis.

"Both in Parliament as well as in the media, the focus of all discussion during last month has mainly been the serious economic crisis that confronts the country. As against the Dollar, the Rupee's value has been hurtling downwards at a terrifying pace!" Advani said in his latest blog posting.

He said several columnists have lambasted the Congress-led government and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi for failing to control the slide of the Rupee and the economic slowdown.

In his blog, Advani extensively quotes media reports which state that the UPA government is becoming identified with corruption and an attempt to find alibis, including an attempt by Finance Minister P Chidambaram to put the blame on his predecessor for the problems facing the economy.

"Repeatedly these days, commentators on the current crisis keep recalling the 1991 crisis, which under P V Narasimha Rao forced the government to take an emergency loan of $2.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund by pledging 67 tons of India's gold reserves as collateral," Advani said.

He also quotes media reports which said the government is mulling approaching rich temples like Tirupati, Shirdi, Siddhivinayak and Padmanabhaswamy temples which have huge gold reserves, to convert their gold into cash.

Advani also recalled that last week top BJP leaders had met President Pranab Mukherjee to complain about government failure to improve the economy and stop the Rupee slide.

The delegation had demanded that Mukherjee advise the government to seek a fresh mandate at the earliest and not later than the state elections due in the next three months.