Opposition parties attacks Centre on country’s economic situation

New Delhi: Opposition Parties on Saturday hit out at the UPA government for the slide in the value of the rupee and market meltdown, and demanded immediate changes in the economic policy.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of failing to tackle the situation. “We demand immediate alteration of policies being pursued by the government,” he said and blamed the United Progressive Alliance’s economic policies for the downslide of the rupee, which plummeted to around Rs 62 to a dollar on Friday, and climb down of all economic indicators, including the sensex. Yechury said if the rupee continues its fall, it would soon touch Rs 80. The economic policies of the government “have brought the economy to the same place where we started in 1991. The country was faced with a major financial crisis at that time too”, Yechury said. BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain said despite having an economist as Prime Minister, the economic situation in the country was worse than 1991.