Chidambaram- Sinha word war escalates

The war of words between Union finance minister P. Chidambaram and former Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) counterpart flared up on Thursday. While Sinha accused Chidambaram of " spreading lies and fooling the country" over fiscal deficit, the finance minister called him " mischievous" and ignorant.

Chidambaram said that the economic performance during the United Progressive Alliance government was far better than the BJP- led National Democratic Alliance government.

" I may point out that 2000- 2001 and 2002- 2003 were the worst years since liberalisation in terms of growth and Prime Minister Vajpayee was forced to replace the finance minister," Chidambaram said.

In a newspaper interview published on Thursday, Sinha said that Chidambaram is " trying to fool the country by saying the fiscal deficit has come down to 4.6 per cent. It is a fraud".

In association with Mail Today