Out of jail after months, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday teared into the Narendra Modi government over the poor state of economy. In a no holds barred attack, Chidambaram said that the "catastrophic mistakes like demonetisation, flawed GST, tax terrorism, regulatory overkill, protectionism, and centralized control of decision-making in the PMO" were behind the current economic mess but the Modi government was still clueless about it.
After Chidambaram’s salvo, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that he violated bail conditions by claiming that clear track record as minister as the case against him is about corruption during his tenure.
The former finance minister, who has been in custody for 106 days in the INX media case, was granted bail by the Supreme Court on the condition that he will not give "any press interviews" or make "any public comment" in connection with the case regarding him or the other co-accused.
"Chidambaram violated bail conditions by claiming clear record as minister as case against him is about graft during his tenure," Javadekar told reporters on Thursday.
.@PChidambaram_IN जी ने पबà¥ÂÂलिक सà¥ÂÂटेटमेंट देकर पहले ही दिन सà¥ÂÂपà¥ÂÂरीम कोरà¥ÂÂट की बेल शरà¥ÂÂतों का उलà¥ÂÂलंघन किया।@INCIndia leader P Chidambaram, who was released on bail in corruption case yesterday has violated the conditions of bail on which Supreme Court had released him#PChidambaram pic.twitter.com/SiKcfOZEpO
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) December 5, 2019
At the start of his presser, Chidambaram had said that he will not be making any comments about the case involving him and added: "My record as Minister and my conscience are absolutely clear. Officers who have worked with me, business persons who have interacted with me and journalists who have observed me know that very well."
While setting aside the November 15 verdict of the Delhi High Court denying him bail in the case, a bench headed by Justice R Banumathi had Wednesday said Chidambaram will have to make himself available for interrogation during further probe as and when required by the ED. The bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy, said Chidambaram "shall not tamper with evidence or attempt to intimidate or influence the witnesses" and not leave the country without specific orders of trial court.