Home Minister P. Chidambaram today said the UPA-II is confident that it will get back to higher economic growth . He termed the BJP criticism of the Prime Minister's performance as distasteful. Mr. Chidambaram asked the BJP leaders not to make too much of magazine articles.

Mr. Chidambaram was responding to the BJP criticism of the Prime Minister's performance in an article carried out in the Time Magazine. Mr. Chidambaram said that the magazine had also recalled the splendid achievements of UPA-I and had criticised the then Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. The BJP spokesperson, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded resignation of the Prime Minister following the article in the magazine.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mrs. Ambika Soni strongly defended the Government exuding confidence that the country will bounce back to higher economic growth under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi today termed the report on the Prime Minister as a deliberate attack on Dr. Manmohan Singh and an attempt to malign the UPA government. Addressing a press conference in Kochi this evening, Vayalar Ravi said the report appears to be instigated by a section of multinationals in a bid to frighten investors and is linked to the Vodafone tax case.