Give Narendra Modi benefit of doubt, says BJP after Congress challenges his claims on economy

New Delhi: Cold facts and statistics have further intensified the debate on economic growth between the BJP and the Congress, triggered by Narendra Modi's claims that the country's economy grew by 8.4 per cent during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime.

Defending his party's prime ministerial candidate, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said the benefit of doubt must be given to Mr Modi in this debate.

"Mr Modi must have referred to the last year of the NDA rule (2003-04). He might have said the NDA ended with 8.6 per cent growth rate. We need to give (him) benefit of doubt," Mr Sinha told NDTV. (Full transcript)

Short of saying Mr Modi made an error while making the claims, Mr Sinha said, "How can I challenge published growth figures?"

And then, in an attempt to complicate the debate, the BJP's firefighter on economic matters said, "We must look at the parameters beyond growth."

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister P Chidambaram accused the Gujarat Chief Minister of "staging a fake encounter with facts" for making the claims in an address to the US diaspora on Sunday.

Mr Chidambaram issued a statement that said, "The average growth rate during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure was six per cent."

"If there was a golden period of growth, it was the five-year period under UPA-I," said the Finance Minister, in response to Mr Modi saying in his address to NRIs that the "Atal-Advani era was a golden period in Indian history."

To which Yashwant Sinha had responded by saying Mr Chidambaram was "practicing terrorism with facts."

Mr Sinha was the Finance Minister for most part of the Vajpayee government's six years at the Centre, including the years 2001-02 and 2002-03 that Mr Chidambaram said were, "the two worst years since the turn of the century."