New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday charged Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with staging a "fake encounter with facts" regarding his claims of economic growth during BJP-led NDA being 8.4 percent and said nothing can be further from truth.
"The average for the six year period (under Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1998-99 to 2003-04) was 6.0 percent and the average for the last five years (1999-2000 to 2003-04) was 5.9 percent," he said in a statement here.
In contrast, the average growth rate during Congress-led UPA's first term was 8.4 percent and 7.3 percent during the first four years of UPA-II, he said.
"The two worst years since the turn of the century were 2000-01 (4.3 percent) and 2002-03 (4 percent)," he said giving out yearly GDP growth rate during the six years of NDA rule under Vajpayee.
Chidambaram's statement was in response to Modi's reported claim of economic growth rate during Vajpayee government being 8.4 percent.
"Nothing can be further from the truth... I wonder why Shri Narendra Modi should stage a fake encounter with facts. Ultimately, facts will prevail," the Finance Minister said.
"If there was a golden period of growth, it was the five year period under UPA-1," he added.
PTI
