Tweaking food act rollout on BJP’s mind Chidambaram Leaving Behind Weak Economy: Sinha

New Delhi: BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Sunday hit out at finance minister P Chidambaram for “making it a habit” of leaving behind a fragile economy and indicated that his party, if elected to power at the Centre, may stagger the roll-out of the food security law to keep a leash on expenditure, while releasing large quantities of foodgrain in the market to deal with high inflation.
    “(Managing) inflation will be the first priority.the  Othrwise, RBI will not be able to get space for a reduction in interest rates. Even a 25 basis point (quarter percentage point) reduction in the rate of interest will have a dramatic impact on the investment climate,” Sinha said in what was a rare articulation of specific strategies by BJP.
    The two-time finance minister blamed the UPA leadership for failing to initiate steps to tame inflation, leaving RBI with no alternative but to raise interest rates. He also criticized the Congressled coalition for launching a series of entitlement-related schemes without creating adequate supplies to deal with the large amount of money in the system and questioned Chidambaram’s argument that the government was late in withdrawing the stimulus announced after the 2008 financial crisis. “The excise duty was increased but could you have withdrawn the sixth pay commission award, the farm debt waiver, the Rs 40,000 crore spent on MNREGA?” he said, adding that it was “bad manners” for the government to blame Pranab Mukherjee, who was finance minister when the stimulus comprising higher spending and lower duties was put in place.
    When contacted, Chidambaram did not comment.
    Contesting the finance minister’s statement that the recent strengthening of the rupee and the rise in stock market indices was the result of UPA’s policies, Sinha said the market sentiment had changed as it expected Narendra Modi to take over as prime minister. “On March 19, when Chidambaram announced that he won’t be contesting elections, the Sensex went up 120 points. The BSE and the forex market celebrated that he is not contesting elections,” said Sinha, whose son, like Chidambaram’s, is taking guard in the Lok Sabha elections. Sinha went on to accuse Chidambaram of repeatedly cutting down on plan spending to show healthier government finances.
    Asked to comment on BJP’s foreign investment policy, Sinha said he favoured a gradual opening up of the financial sector to overseas participation.
    For the full report, log on
    to www.timesofindia.com ‘There is a case for revisiting gas price hike’ F ormer finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday said there was a case for reviewing the controversial gas price formula — which will double the price of the fuel — now that the EC has asked for the proposed hike to be deferred. He said the government decided to change the formula based on recommendations of a panel headed by C Rangarajan even as standing committees on oil and finance were examining the issue. Another panel headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar has been tasked with reviewing the decision. TNN