Sitharaman said she does not require to put the blame and respect Manmohan Singh in saying not to play the blame game but said it is necessary to recall what went wrong and when did it go wrong.
Responding to ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's views on the current economic situation, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that a political assessment is being made and no one can stop it.
Sitharaman said she does not require to put the blame and respect Manmohan Singh in saying not to play the blame game but said it is necessary to recall what went wrong and when did it go wrong.
She said, "we do have a coherent narrative on how to handle the economy... we do have listening governments who respond to affected sectors, while there is some difficulty... we do have to recall what went wrong and while recalling what went wrong, it certainly pertains to a period when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister and Raghuram Rajan was the RBI Governor."
Also Read: 'Government obsessed with trying to fix blame on opponents': Manmohan Singh counters Nirmala Sitharaman's comment
On the $5 trillion economy issue, Nirmala Sitharaman said they will achieve it in an open and transparent manner. "I wish the Congress has the courage and conviction to hear it loud and clear."
Further, the Finance Minister said the present government has not supported any wrong-doing.
"At this stage, my duty is to hear every sector and to respond. IMF has reduced the growth for India and other countries despite of the fact India is still growing faster," she added.
On Thursday, Manmohan Singh said that the current government was "obsessed with trying to fix blame on its opponents" instead of coming up with a solution that will revive the economy.
Singh was responding to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's comment a day earlier blaming the Manmohan Singh-Raghuram Rajan duo for the bank crisis.
"I have just seen the statements by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman," said the former Prime Minister at a press conference, "I won't like to comment on that statement, but before one can fix the economy, one needs a correct diagnosis of its ailments and their causes. The government is obsessed with trying to fix blame on its opponent, thus it is unable to find a solution that will ensure the revival of the economy."
Singh was addressing the press in Mumbai ahead of the assembly elections in the state of Maharashtra on October 21.
He mentioned the current crisis at the fraud-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank and said that the aggravating problem needed an effective solution but the BJP governments at the centre and in the state were unwilling to adopt policies that were people-friendly.
Singh said, "It's very unfortunate what has happened in the case of this bank. I expect the government, the Maharashtra government and the RBI to put their heads together and provide a credible, pragmatic, and effective solution to this case where 16 lakh depositors are trying for justice."
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 "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman")
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