PM's economic package 'jumla', less than 1pc of GDP: Chavan

Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Rs 20 lakh crore economic package to tide over the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus outbreak a "jumla" (poll rhetoric) and claimed the Centre would be spending just 1 percent of GDP and not 10 percent as the NDA government has stated. Chavan, a former Maharashtra chief minister, spent several years as a minister in the PMO in the Manmohan Singh- led UPA government.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is thumping his chest about the Atmanirbhar campaign and Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package. In fact, only Rs 2 lakh crore is going to be used to increase spending capacity, which will create very little demand in the market. The rest Rs 18 lakh crore is nothing but various schemes of borrowing," he told reporters. Chavan, incidentally, had demanded a Rs 21 lakh crore package in April this year.

"Ten world-renowned financial institutions have said actual spending in Modi's stimulus package would be around 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent. It exposes the hollowness of the stimulus package," Chavan said. He said during the economic crisis in 2008, there was the leadership of Manmohan Singh to guide the nation, while there was no such hope from the Modi government.

"Nobody believes Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman can bring the country out of this crisis," Chavan said.