After Modi's 'phone-a-loan' jibe, P Chidambaram asks 'what after 2014'

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his  "phone-a-loan" remarks on loans given during the UPA rule, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram Sunday asked the NDA government to reveal the number of loans given by it which turned into non-performing assets (NPA).

In a series of tweets, the senior Congress leader also questioned why the present dispensation did not recall those loans, given by the previous government, which turned bad.

"How many loans and how much that were given after May 2014 have become non-performing assets?" he asked.

Chidambaram said this question was asked in Parliament but there was no answer so far.

The Modi government had assumed office in May 2014.

Speaking at a function to launch the payments bank of the postal department, Modi blamed a "phone-a-loan" scam of the previous Congress-led UPA government for the bad loans in the banking sector and said every penny given out by "namdars" (dynasts) will be recovered. 

Modi said a majority of bank funds during the previous regime were reserved only for rich who were close to a particular family.

Chidambaram said even if it was assumed that the Prime Minister was right when he said that loans given under the UPA have turned bad, how many of those loans were renewed or rolled over (that is 'evergreened') under the present NDA government?

"Why were those loans not recalled? Why were those loans evergreened?" he asked.