Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament that starts on January 31, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday claimed that the Narendra Modi-led government is likely to announce sops with an eye on the 2019 elections.

It is no longer a secret…I think it is an almost open secret that they are going to copy either the Telangana Model or the Madhya Pradesh Model or a hybrid model. They will give away money which they don’t have. They will give money which they don’t have today, Mr. Chidambaram said.

He said that even though an outgoing government doesnt announce major decision during a Vote On Account (Interim Budget), the Modi government has “never followed any precedent.

It is for the people to judge. This is clearly intended to win votes, let us wait and see. Don’t think that people are fools. People know that for four and half years, you do nothing and then you suddenly wake up and make these policies for announcements, he said.

According to Mr. Chidambaram, the economy is in a perilous state and every indicator is worrisome. He said the government is facing shortfall in its revenue targets as direct tax collections and the goods and services tax (GST) are falling short of estimated targets.

Nothing the government will do in the next 60 days will alter the status of the economy…So, we have to pray, hope and trust in the next government, he said.

On Prime Minister Modis claim at the Vibrant Gujarat summit of high GDP growth during the last five years, he said, Simple arithmetic will tell you that UPA-Is five year growth record is the highest for any five years since independence or even before independence,he said.

Mr Chidambaram, who also heads the Congress partys Manifesto Committee, said their paty is working on a forward looking manifesto that will avoid catastrophic mistakes like demonetization and the flawed GST.

Asked what would he have done differently if he was NDAs Finance Minister, he said, If I were the Finance Minister in the NDA Government, then I would have resigned.