Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is more competent than BJP leader L K Advani to handle the economic slowdown. “If one has to chose between Advani and Manmohan Singh to handle a slowdown, I have no doubt that more than 90 per cent will say Manmohan singh is more competent to handle the slowdown than Advani,” Chidambaram told media persons here.
On recession, he said, “India does not face recession, it is just a slow down. Every other day the newspapers are saying that China and India are the only countries showing positive growth.” “The year 2008-09 saw a slow down and the coming year will be more crucial for the country, as the situation may become worse than this year,” he added.
Taking a dig at BJP-led NDA government for its “poor” economic performance, Chidambaram said the Congress-led UPA regime pushed up the average annual economic growth from 5.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent in the last five years.
“From 5.8 per cent during NDA regime, the growth rate has increased to 8.5 per cent in the Congress-led UPA tenure. It’s a mirror image,” Chidambaram said.
“Only the Congress has the high degree of competence required to tackle all challenges that face the economy today, not the BJP,” he said.
