GDP unstoppable fall 8, 7, 6.6, 5.8, 5, 4.5 continues, says P Chidambaram

New Delhi: Former Home Minister P Chidambaram, addressing his first Press conference after being released from jail on bail, didn't waste time in taking on the government on the state of the economy and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been "unusually silent" on the slump.

"Nothing sums up the state of the economy better than the following series of numbers: 8, 7, 6.6, 5.8, 5 and 4.5.

Those are the quarterly growth rates of GDP in the last six quarters. We will be lucky to end the year if growth touches 5%," Chidambaram told reporters at the Congress headquarters.

He said every number pointed in the direction of a floundering economy. The economy can be brought out of the slowdown but this government, he said, was in denial and "incapable" of doing that.

"I believe that the Congress and some other parties are better equipped to pull the economy out of the slowdown and push economic growth, but we have to wait for better times," he remarked.