Agencies, New Delhi
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the UPA Government has put in place policies and instruments to bring economy back on track and expressed confidence that the country would achieve a growth rate of 7 to 8 per cent in the next two years.
Taking a dig at Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, who has said the UPA had brought the economy in a state of mess, Dr Singh said he left it to the Opposition BJP to judge the performance of the UPA on the yardstick of national interest rather than to score political points.
The Prime Minister was replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha.
“The Leader of the Opposition had quoted Tacitus to run down the UPA. In reply, I would also like to quote from one of the sayings of Tacitus that ‘when men are full of envy, they despise everything, be it good or bad’.
“The LOP is a widely read and discerning person. I leave it to his judgement to consider the performance of the UPA on the yardstick of national interest or score political points from it,” he added.
Dr Singh said he agreed with Mr Jaitley when the latter said the country needed a growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent.
The Prime Minister said: “Our Economy needs to grow at 8-9 per cent to get rid of poverty and unemployment. I also agree with him when he says that achieving this requires rapid industrial pace.
