Arun Jaitley says Mahagathbandhan formula is ‘tried, tested and has failed’

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the united opposition front or the Mahagathbandhan with Congress in the centre to counter the BJP is a tried, tested formula but has miserably failed. 
“It is an experiment where policy gets killed, and the longevity of the government is few months. So these are tried, tested and failed ideas much as they sound fancy,” he said. 
He added that he wasn’t against coalition governments but thought the Opposition is not making the right efforts. What works, he said, was an alliance which has a strong nucleus, with smaller parties around this nucleus.
The minister added that the the 2019 elections would be a choice between “a stable government” and an “anarchic combination, stating, “I think aspirational societies never commit suicide”.
On the economic front, he said India is all set to maintain high economic growth for the next two decades and it will do better than China.
Applauding the Narendra Modi government’s social welfare programmes, he said: “Brick by brick poor people are being pulled out of their substandard lives. The programmes are ensuring healthcare, food and housing for the poor,” said Jaitley at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Delhi.
He also hinted that India is on a similar verge of an industrial boom like China and that the country should not stand lacking. The senior BJP leader said the Indian middle class is the change agent and responsible for the oncoming economic superiority. 
“In the last 20 years if you look behind, China’s phenomenal growth dominated the global story. I think this expanding Indian middle class over the next 20 years and its purchasing power is going to globally impact India and other economies,” he said. 
Talking about high international crude oil prices and the Indian rupee weakening against the US dollar, he said the phenomenon is temporary and are interrelated. “There are huge avenues for growth for Indian economy in the next 10-20 years,” said Jaitley. “I don’t think the sentiment with regard to Indian economy is negative.”
He added there are some more steps on the anvil to narrow the current account deficit (CAD) and bolster forex inflows. The government has already cut the borrowing target for 2018-19 by Rs 70,000 crore and allowed oil companies to raise $10 billion in one year.
 

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