PM’s ex-economic advisor admitted flawed GST main cause of slowdown: Chidambaram

New Delhi, October 14

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in a corruption case, said the prime minister’s former economic adviser has admitted that a “flawed” GST is the main cause of economic slowdown, but forgot to mention demonetisation.

Chidambaram, who is in jail since September 5 for alleged corruption in the INX Media case, has asked his family to tweet on his behalf.                    

“Finally, PM’s Economic Advisor has admitted that a flawed GST (and its faulty implementation) was the main cause of the economic slowdown. He forgot demonetisation,” he said on Twitter.

He rebutted Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and said the Congress had opposed the GST in its present form in Parliament.

“FM said that all of us made the GST law. She is wrong. We opposed the law, as drafted, in Parliament. Read my speech,” the former finance minister said in another tweet.

Chidambaram has been critical of the handling of the economy by the BJP government and has held demonetisation and “faulty implementation” of GST as one of the main reasons for the economic slowdown. —PTI