Government has given up on reviving economy: Chidambaram

New Delhi : Slamming the Budget, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said the Modi government is in complete denial that the economy faces a "grave macro economic challenge" and it has given up on reviving the economy, accelerating growth or creating jobs.

There is nothing in the Budget that leads one to believe that growth will revive in 2020-21 and the claim of 6 to 6.5 per cent growth next year is "astonishing and even irresponsible", the former finance minister said at a press conference.

He said the government "does not believe" in reforms and certainly not in structural reforms as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has outrightly rejected every reform idea in the Economic Survey.

"Did the FM read the Economic Survey? Was the chief economic adviser privy to the content of the Budget speech? I think the answer to both questions is in the negative," Chidambaram said.

There were multiple themes, segments and programmes in the Budget speech, leaving the listener dazed and confused, he claimed. "It was a laundry list of old (that is current) programmes.

I am pretty certain that even the most loyal BJP MP or supporter cannot latch on to any idea or statement in the Budget speech and take it to the people," Chidambaram said.