Hitting back at Finance Minister P Chidambaram for his remarks against Narendra Modi, BJP today accused him and Congress of being the "biggest patrons" of crony capitalism in India.
The principal opposition party also accused Chidambaram of "running away" from Lok Sabha election contest and said it was the "first open confession by a tottering Congress government that it had no will to fight".
Reacting sharply to Chidambaram's attack on Modi for promoting "crony capitalism" and dismissing questions raised by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha as "puerile", BJP said what the Finance Minister was saying were "white lies".
"Mr Chidambaram is speaking a white lie when he is saying that crony capitalism is with Narendra Modi. It is the Congress-led UPA in general and Mr Chidambaram in particular, who are the biggest patrons of crony capitalism in India," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said while citing 2G spectrum allocation, Aircel-Maxis deal and coal blocks allotment as examples in this regard.
BJP said it was happy that Chidambaram had "bothered to react" and was batting for the Congress party, but he has got "retired hurt on the very first delivery".
Taking a jibe at Chirambaram deciding not to contest this time, Prasad said, "Your decision to run away from election was the first open confession by a tottering Congress government that it had no will to fight and had admitted defeat publicly."
Prasad also said the stock markets reacted positively to this development and were rising on the hopes of a Narendra Modi government coming to power instead.
Responding to the Finance Minister's remarks against the former Finance Minister Sinha that he had a "distant memory" of economy, the BJP leader said, "Mr Chidambaram you are suffering from selective memory while replying to Yashwant Sinha's questions.
