<div>Chidambaram's statement was in response to Modi's reported claim of economic growth rate during Vajpayee government being 8.4 per cent.<br /><br />Finance Minister P Chidambaram charged Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with staging a "fake encounter with facts" regarding his claims of economic growth during BJP-led NDA being 8.4 per cent and said nothing can be further from truth.<br /><br />"The average for the six year period (under Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1998-99 to 2003-04) was 6.0 per cent and the average for the last five years (1999-2000 to 2003-04) was 5.9 per cent," he said in a statement here.<br /><br />In contrast, the average growth rate during Congress-led UPA's first term was 8.4 per cent and 7.3 per cent during the first four years of UPA-II, he said.<br /><br />"The two worst years since the turn of the century were 2000-01 (4.3 per cent) and 2002-03 (4 per cent)," he said giving out yearly GDP growth rate during the six years of NDA rule under Vajpayee.<br /><br />Chidambaram's statement was in response to Modi's reported claim of economic growth rate during Vajpayee government being 8.4 per cent.<br /><br />"Nothing can be further from the truth... I wonder why Shri Narendra Modi should stage a fake encounter with facts.<br /><br />Ultimately, facts will prevail," the Finance Minister said.<br /><br />"If there was a golden period of growth, it was the five year period under UPA-1," he added.<br /><br />(PTI) </div>
