Yashwant Sinha also claimed that many BJP MPs had told him that 'no one was being allowed to speak or raise issues at meetings of the parliamentary party.
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has hit back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for accusing him of acting in tandem and calling him a job applicant at 80.
Breaking his silence on criticism by fellow Yashwant Sinha over the state of Economy, Jaitley on Thursday called him a job applicant at 80 years who has forgotten his record as finance minister and is commenting on persons rather than policies.
At a book release function, Jaitley refrained from taking Sinha's name but said he does not have the luxury as yet of being a former finance minister nor does he have the luxury of being a former finance minister who has turned a columnist.
However, replying to Arun Jaitley’s ‘job applicant at 80’ barb, Sinha said, "If I was a job applicant, he (Jaitley) would not be there in the first place.”
"The government 'completely misread' the situation on the economic front and 'kept chipping away at the margins'," Sinha said in an interview to Indian Express.
He also claimed that many BJP MPs had told him that 'no one was being allowed to speak or raise issues at meetings of the parliamentary party'.
“For all those who are saying that mine was a personal attack, it is not. If it is the economy, the blame has to be on the Finance Minister and not the Home Minister," he added.
Sinha also said that by pitting his son and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant against him, the government is trying to obfuscate issues.
However, Jayant Sinha has rejected suggestions that he wrote an article in an English daily disputing his father's contentions on the state of India's economy at anybody's bidding, insisting it was 'absolutely out of his own conscience.
Sinha also said his difference of opinion with his father was "very serious discussion" and that it should not be seen 'in a personal way'.
Earlier, in a newspaper article headlined, 'I need to speak up now', Yashwant had criticised Jaitley over what he called the 'mess the finance minister has made of the economy' and flayed demonetization and the way the GST had been rolled out.
Sinha, a member of the BJP s 'margdarshak mandal' that was set up in 2014 to guide the party, has also said a revival by the time of the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2019 was 'highly unlikely' and a 'hard landing' appeared inevitable.
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha also came out in support of his party colleague Yashwant Sinha, saying he was a true statesman and had shown the government the mirror.
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