'Standing on shoulders of UPA': Chidambaram's dig at Modi govt

CHENNAI: Senior Congress leader from Tamil Nadu P Chidambaram on Monday hit back at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over her article on the achievements of the nine-year Modi regime and said that the Modi regime stands tall in some areas because it was standing on the shoulders of the UPA government.

Taking to social media to pick holes in Ms Sitharaman's claims, Chidambaram who was union finance minister in the UPA tenure said, "Many examples she has cited are true as would be true of EVERY government that has ruled for 5 or 10 years. The FM has cited 5 examples of the Opposition taking the government to Court and LOSING the case."

"Every government will have achievements to its credit. So does the Modi government. If the Modi government stands tall in some areas, it is because it is standing on the shoulders of the UPA government," Chidambaram added.

Arguing that Nirmala was wrong in at least three areas, Chidambaram said, "The SC had declared triple talaq illegal even before Parliament passed a law. The Article 370 case has not yet been heard by the court. Numerous cases under the GST laws are pending."

Criticising the incumbent minister for claiming credit for India achieving top ranks in production of milk, honey and fruit and vegetables, the AICC senior said, "These ranks were achieved years ago and we retain those ranks The Hon'ble FM claims credit for Direct Benefit Transfer. She forgets that Aadhaar was conceived, created and rolled out by the UPA government and the first transfers under DBT were done by the UPA government."

On Nirmala 'boasting' about the 11.72 crore toilets built during the Modi regime, he suggested that she should read her own government's reports on how many of them are unused and unusable because they lack water.