Claiming that the Narendra Modi government's efforts during its remaining tenure cannot revive the "perilous condition" of the Indian economy, P. Chidambaram said the Centre might not able to achieve its set fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent.
Chidambaram's remarks come in the wake of fresh revelations on the Rafale deal in a media report which claimed that PM Modi's decision to buy 36 aircrafts instead of the 126 asked for by the Air Force pushed the price of each jet up by 41.42 per cent.
Chidambaram was represented in the hearing through advocates Pramod Kumar Dubey and Arshdeep Singh.
The judge granted four weeks interim bail to Nalini and directed her to surrender before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Egmore here and furnish sureties and thereafter approach the jurisdictional court in West Bengal and obtain regular anticipatory bail.
An ED official said that the former leader was summoned last month by the agency for questioning.
In an exclusive interview to ANI, PM Modi said that his government has made all efforts to take action against the top leaders of the Congress party who allegedly have been involved in any wrong doing.
"The Congress is confident of winning the heartland states in the general elections as well, along with allies," Chidambaram told IANS at a news conference in the party's state unit office in Bengaluru.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said the Rs 60,000 crore worth Rafale deal should not go "unchallenged" after the Supreme Court expressed its limitations to examine it because of its jurisdictional limits.
The central probe agency has earlier grilled Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram in this case and has also attached his assets worth an estimated Rs 54 crore, located in India and abroad.
Chidambaram exuded confidence that at the national level, the momentum was now with the Congress as far as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections were concerned.
Asked whether Urjit Patel meekly accepted demonetisation, Chidambaram said, "He suffered a huge reputational slide by endorsing demonetisation."
India's GDP growth rate declined to 7.1 per cent during the July-September quarter, compared to April-June's 8.2 per cent, the official data had revealed on Friday.
The CBI on July 19 filed a chargesheet against 18 persons in the case, including the former Finance Minister and Karti.
The rejoinder submissions were filed before Special Judge O P Saini through advocates P K Dubey and Arshdeep Singh.
The submissions have been made by the father-son duo in their rejoinder filed in response to the replies of the probe agencies.
"As long as no one staked a claim to form government, J&K governor was happy to keep Assembly under suspension. The moment someone staked a claim, he dissolved the Assembly!" he tweeted.
The former Union home and finance minister said the governor was "happy" to keep the assembly under suspended animation as long as no one staked a claim to form government.
In a dig at Modi, Chidambaram said he was grateful that the prime minister was "concerned" about who is elected as Congress president and he devotes a lot of time talking about it.
The Congress leader said the government had claimed that its "fiscal math is correct" and "boasts" that it had given up Rs 70,000 crore of borrowing for 2018-19.
He said it was the duty of the Congress to caution the people that the BJP was taking the country "on a path of conflict and economic disaster".
Live Scorecard
Top News
Latest News
