Nirmala Sitharaman: "We have not given any loans to cronies"

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman remarked on Thursday, October 17, that recalling when and what went wrong was absolutely necessary. She was responding to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who alleged that the Centre was always trying to put the blame on its rivals. Earlier, at an event in the Columbia University, Sitharaman held the duo of Dr Singh and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor responsible for the bad phase of public sector banks. She refuted the contention that the government was not serious about ameliorating the situation. 

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Sitharaman said, "I respect Dr. Manmohan Singh for telling me not to do the blame game. But recalling when and what went wrong during a certain period is absolutely necessary to put it in context, now that I'm being charged that there's no narrative at all about the economy.” She added, "If there is a charge against us that we have not given a cohesive narrative about the economy, I'm sorry, probably it has not even reached the narrative that we're given about the economy or the target with which we are working or the response with which we are answering those stress in different parts of the country, those industries which are under stress, those messages have probably not even reached people who have commented on us.” 

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'We never committed mistakes'

The Finance Minister maintained that the government was taking time to clear the clog from public sector banks. Taking a dig at the Dr Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government, she asserted that the present regime was against crony capitalism.  

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"I don't need to put the blame. It is more than apparent as to when the wrongdoings happened in banks and which is the government which is spending time to clear the clog from public sector banks and which is the government which is pursuing all those who have taken money during the UPA government and who've gone out to the country out of fear that action is being taken now under this government," she opined. Furthermore, Sitharaman stated, "We never committed mistakes and corruption. We've not given any loans to cronies. We've never supported any wrongdoing and looked at the way when as prime minister, I would want to again recall the number of corruption cases which had happened during the UPA. Has there been any here (under NDA)?” 

(With agency inputs)

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