PM in denial mode over state of economy: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being in a "denial mood" over the state of the country's economy and said the government should treat current economic problems as a "wake up call" and take effective measures.

"The patient does not want to be treated. He is convinced that he is not unwell... The Prime Minister's statement that fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong comes as a surprise. It clearly shows that the Prime Minister is living in denial about the real state of the India economy," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said in New Delhi.

His statement came after the Prime Minister, earlier in the day, said that scaling down India's growth forecast to 5.5 per cent by rating agency Moody's was a "cause of concern" but one should not draw "unwarranted conclusion".

The PM said conclusions need not be drawn over lowering of India\'s growth forecast by rating agency Moody\'s.

Singh also maintained that fundamentals of Indian economy are strong and it will still do better than 6.5 per cent growth performance of last year.

To this, Jaitley said "economy is not run by bravado" and that the Prime Minister should respond to the situation.

(With additional information from PTI)

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