Nirmala Sitharaman must get over 'politicking' about economy and acknowledge 'slowdown', says Priyanka Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday attacked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for not acknowledging that there was a “slowdown”, saying she needs to get over “politicking” about the state of the economy and come clean with the people of India. Priyanka Gandhi’s attack came after Sitharaman, when asked by reporters as to whether there was any slowdown in the economy, said the government was responding to it sectorally, based on their requirement. [caption id=“attachment_6557951” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. PTI[/caption] “Every sector of the Indian economy, when it approaches us, we hear them out for solutions that they want and we respond to it,” Sitharaman said. Hitting out at Sitharaman, Priyanka Gandhi, in a tweet, said: “Does the government accept that there is a slowdown or not? The FM needs to get over politicking about the state of our economy and come clean with the people of India.” “How do they plan to resolve the massive problem they have created if they aren’t even ready to acknowledge it?” the Congress general secretary asked. India’s economic growth on Friday slumped for the fifth straight quarter to an over six-year low of 5 percent in the three months ended June as consumer demand and private investment slowed amid deteriorating global environment. Having lost the tag of the world’s fastest-growing economy earlier this year, India’s GDP growth was behind China’s 6.2 percent in April-June, its weakest pace in at least 27 years. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India, Asia’s third-largest economy, slumped by larger than expected 5 percent in April-June, the slowest pace since January-March 2013. The growth stood at 5.8 percent in January-March of 2019 and 8 percent of April-June 2018, according to official data released on Friday.