Men of envy disparage everything: Manmohan Singh to BJP - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: If it was couplets in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh armed himself with growth figures to take on leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He asked BJP to be more objective in assessing the work of the government and said men of envy disparage everything, good or bad. Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said after the debate that he wished the prime minister had not 'treated corruption as a non-issue'. "At least, he will appreciate that despite the wisdom of Tacitus the UPA's corruption is not a cause of envy for us," Jaitley said. The prime minister expressed confidence that slow growth will not stay and the economy will bounce back in two-three years, countering Jaitley's contention that the UPA government would leave behind the economy in a mess. "I agree to Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley saying country needs a growth of 7-8% to get rid of poverty. I would like to remind this House that this is precisely the intention of the UPA government," Singh said replying to the motion of thanks on the President's address. Describing Jaitley as a wise and discerning person, the PM said he should be more objective in assessing the performance of the UPA government. "If the leader of opposition and his colleagues reflect calmly, they will conclude that the path we have chosen is the right," he said. Singh recalled that in 1992 when he presented the budget, it was said that it was made in Washington and not in Delhi. "But despite changes in government, be it Left or BJP, there have been no changes in process of reforms and every party sworn by economic reform... We have opened up the path for economic reforms," he said. To get rid of poverty and unemployment, the prime minister said the economy needed to grow at a rate of 8-9%. He said Congress had in the early 90s opened up the economy and the path of reforms to create an environment for rapid industrialisation. Refuting Jaitley's criticism of UPA's policies, the prime minister said the statistics during his government's rule spoke for itself whether it was agriculture, growth rate or industrialisation. Download ET's mobile applications for iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows Phone to track news as it happens, live stock quotes, monitor portfolio, get market stats like gainers, losers and movers & much more. To check out free Economic Times apps , Click here He asked BJP to be more objective in assessing the work of the government and said men of envy disparage everything, good or bad. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNE00TA5mjKkYcSLTPOTKtz5SUB1YQ&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/men-of-envy-disparage-everything-manmohan-singh-to-bjp/articleshow/18874139.cms

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