The Indian political scenario is surely buzzing. While the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi made his most aggressive speech ever on Friday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a Dharna against the Delhi police force today.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi plays LPG, women empowerment cards
Sunil Jain, managing editor of The Financial Express is not surprised by the development. He says this being the election season such populist moves are obviously on the cards. He feels raising the bar on LPG cylinders from 9 to 12 cylinders, as proposed by Rahul Gandhi, is a done deal though it is yet to come up before the cabinet.
Going ahead, he expects to see dramatic expenditure cuts to curb fiscal deficit. But the worrying thing here is with growth stalling and the government and the private sector cutting back on spending, return to growth would be a more stressful journey.
However, he does not see a ratings downgrade for India any time soon. He says it may happen post the elections, in case there is a hung Parliament, which focuses more on populist measures than long-term economic salvation.
Jain says the next government will have to fix structural issues first if it wants to tackle current account deficit problem – including bringing the private sector back into coal mining, lifting the ban on mining, among other things. He says once growth is back on track, CAD will once again be an issue and if these issues are not addressed then it will lead to even bigger problems.
He also shared his views on AAP and Rahul Gandhi’s speech on Friday.
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