Keep pace with the world,Pranab tells Left

The Left parties were on Tuesday subjected to ridicule by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee who suggested that they were not keeping pace with the "moving" world and contended that the UPA would have met its Waterloo if it had followed economic prescription of erstwhile allies.

"You have your perception. You live with your perception as long as you live politically," Mukherjee told CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia in the Lok Sabha while responding to a calling attention motion on the issue of disinvestment.

"The world is moving. The world is not stagnating. We are keeping pace with the world," he told Acharia and added, "Thank God, we took the decision (of reforms). If we had stuck to your position, our position would have been what you are today."

Amid repeated thumping of desks by UPA members, Mukherjee also took a dig at Left parties for contending that the government had given Rs 4 lakh crore to private sector in the form of stimulus.

"You are citing fancy figures...," he told Acharia.

Mukherjee said in the last UPA government where the Left parties were "our valued colleagues", disinvestment was carried out in seven PSUs.

While replying to the Motion, Mukherjee once had a slip of tongue when he said that 25 years back, he was the "prime minister". He, however, immediately corrected himself saying that he was finance minister.