Congress is the biggest liar in the country: Yashwant Sinha

Sinha's statement came as a hit back to Chidambaram's accusation of false growth figures

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Monday hit back at the Congress, and labeled the ruling party as 'super feku', after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram accused the opposition of staging 'a fake encounter with facts.'

"The Congress is super feku. There is no bigger liar in the country than the Congress Party," Sinha said.

Targetting Chidambaram, Sinha said that the historical trend establishes that he was responsible for the present economic meltdown and inflation in the country.

"Chidambaram has been very economical with facts. Somebody should ask him what was the growth rate, which we had inherited when we came into power in 1998. It was 4.8%, and it was Chidambaram who was the Finance Minister. When we left office, it was 8.6%. Today, again, with Chidambaram as Finance Minister we are back to 4.8%. It shows that Chidambaram is a specialist in 4.8% growth rate," he said.

"When he (Chidambaram) could not find any other fact to hide behind, then he decided to take recourse to averages, and then claim that our average in the first five years-UPA 1-was better than our (BJP's) five years. But, that is not the issue. The issue is that we had given them a very healthy economy, which they have turned into a sick child; and from 8.6%, they have brought the growth rate back to 4.8%. That is a fact that the whole world knows, and Chidambaram cannot deny that fact," he added.

Sinha also asked Chidambaram to not make comparisons solely based on growth rates, but also disclose comparisons between the UPA and the NDA on job creation and interest rates, which he said were healthier under the BJP-led government.

"We had left behind a stable economy, a fast growing economy. When these people came into power, the growth rate lasted only as long as our efforts lasted. And then, since they did not take any new steps, the growth rate today is what it is," he said.

Earlier today, Chidambaram came out with a detailed growth data for the last several years, and specifically lashed out at Gujarat Chief Minister and NDA's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections Narendra Modi for 'staging a fake encounter with facts' as far as the nation's growth is concerned.

Chidambaram said if there was a golden period of growth, it was the five-year period under UPA I.

"I wonder why Shri Narendra Modi should stage a fake encounter with facts. Ultimately, facts will prevail," he said.

Additionally, on Sunday, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh hit out at Modi, and said the facts that he presented indicated that it was 'feku' at his best.

"FEKU MODI at his best. Giving fake figures of growth during NDA regime," Digvijay Singh said on the microblogging site, Twitter.

Praising the six-year tenure of NDA under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party's veteran leader LK Advani, Modi had earlier said, "Under Vajpayee government it looked like that the 21st century would be the century of India. But with his departure, the downfall started."

He said that the growth rate was 8.4% but it came down to 4.8% during the UPA's rule.

"However, once Vajpayee's tenure as PM came to an end, we regressed and are moving backwards," he said, while addressing the Indian Diaspora through a live video conference.