Chidambaram calls SBI plan for YES Bank bizarre, attacks Modi govt

Blames Centre for being oblivious to a 35% spike in private lender's loan book since 2014, hints that SBI was arm-twisted into the deal

Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP-led government, former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday described State Bank of India's rescue plan for YES Bank as "bizarre". Chidambaram was particularly critical of the Modi-led government, blaming it for being oblivious to a 35 per cent spike in the private lender's loan book since 2014.

"The SBI plan of purchasing a bank with zero net value at Rs 10 per share is bizarre. I don't get the impression that SBI was a volunteer in the rescue act. Just as LIC wasn't for IDBI. These are command performances," Chidambaram asserted.

Announcing a restructuring plan for YES Bank following the imposition of curbs by the Reserve Bank of India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday panned the Opposition, asserting that the crisis had spawned prior to 2014, when the Congress-led UPA government was in power. Sitharaman also took on Chidambaram calling him a "self-appointed competent doctor" in a remark that apparently cast aspersions on his performance as FM under the UPA regime.

Chidambaram got back at her, saying, "Sometimes when I listen to the Finance Minister, I feel the UPA is still in power, I am still the finance minister and she is the opposition."

Taking a potshot at the BJP governemnt at the Centre, he quipped, "Obviously if you mismanage, you will lurch from one crisis to another."