Rate cut oversight: Finance Minister's excuse is lame, says Congress
The opposition looks set to capitalise on the recalling of the government order that announced big interest rate cuts in small savings schemes in the ongoing assembly election campaign.
FollowOpposition Congress has latched on to the "oversight" justification given by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while recalling the government order announcing big interest rate cuts in small savings schemes.
Reacting to Nirmala Sitharaman's early Thursday morning clarification, Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, "Announcement of interest rates on savings instruments for the next quarter is a regular exercise. There is nothing 'inadvertent' about its release on 31st March."
"The BJP government had decided to launch another assault on the middle class by slashing the interest rates and profiting itself. When caught, the FM is putting forward the lame excuse of 'inadvertent error'," Chidambaram said.
"When inflation is at about 6 per cent and expected to rise, the BJP government is offering interest rates below 6 per cent hitting the savers and the middle class below the belt," he added.
The opposition looks set to capitalise on this issue in the ongoing assembly election campaign.
An indication of this came from Trinamool Congress MPs Mahua Moitra and Derek O'Brien who stated that the rollback of the controversial order was like an "egg on the face" of the government.
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Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wondered if it was really "oversight" or election driven "hindsight" that prompted the rollback.
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