Congress slams Modi, Jaitley for 'mismanaging' economy

In a veild attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over their "economic mismanagement", the Congress on Thursday said "Modi-nomics" and "Jaitley-nomics" have "utterly" failed.

The Congress said Modi and Jaitley should wake up from their "slumber" to take corrective measures to restore the economy. "If not the day is not far when both of them will be "former prime minister and finance minister," he said.

Earlier today, Jaitley said he does not have the luxury of being a former finance minister an apparent counter to senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's criticism of his handling of the country' economy.

Speaking to reporters here, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala accused Jaitley of insulting Sinha, saying it was "unacceptable" in political life.

"You can ask anybody on the street and the simple answer is Modi-nomics and Jaitley-nomics have utterly failed...economic mismanagement, policy paralysis have become synonymous with current Modi government," Surjewala told reporters.

Terming Jaitley's speech as "disappointing", Surjewala said the finance minister did not come clear on the issues of inflation, creation of jobs, a 14-year low in exports share of GDP and lowest credit growth in 63 years.

Hitting out at Jaitley for defending demonetisation, Surjewala said it was a "Modi-made" disaster and also rued that the "poorly implemented and un-thought of" GST has wrecked businessmen and traders of the country. He added country's farmers were also in distress.

Jaitley today called Yashwant Sinha a job applicant at 80 years who has forgotten his record as finance minister and is commenting on persons rather than policies.

PTI