Manmohan used as 'puppet', economy doing quite well under Modi: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday lashed out at Congress leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying India could not achieve desired growth when he was heading the government as “some used him as a puppet to promote corruption and nepotism”, Hindustan Times reported. “What kind of injustice it did to the Indian economy, we all know,” said party spokesman Sambit Patra.

The statement came a day after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman sidestepped a question about Singh’s criticism of the state of the economy.

Data released on August 30 showed that India’s economic growth rate had slipped to 5% in the April-June quarter, the lowest in over six years. According to the commerce ministry, growth in eight core sectors – coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity – dropped to 2.1% in July, compared to 7.3% growth in the same period last year.