NEW DELHI: The BJP today sought to corner former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, alleging that he granted seven private firms, including scam-accused Gitanjali Gems, gold import benefits on the day of counting of 2014 Lok Sabha poll votes and asked the Congress how much “cut” was given to whom for the decision.
Senior party leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad targeted the Congress and Chidambaram, whose son Karti Chidambaram has been arrested by the CBI in a corruption case, at a press conference which was described by the BJP as an “expose on the politics of lies and deceit” of the opposition party.
Prasad alleged that the then Congress-led UPA Government “destroyed” the economy by not letting the real stressed assets get reflected in banks’ books and said total advances given by banks in the last six years of its rule rose to Rs 52.15 lakh crore from Rs 18.06 lakh crore in 2008.
Only 36 per cent of these advances were identified as stressed assets but they rose to 82 per cent, he said, alleging that under the then “so-called economist” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram, the banking system was “sought to be derailed by interventions, patronage and pressure”. (AGENCIES)
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