Friday, September 1 2006 11:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Charging the previous NDA regime with not being a 'great success' in managing macro economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the UPA Government has delivered an over seven per cent economic growth in every quarter barring one.

"In case of the NDA Government, as it approached the end of its tenure, it appeared to me like a football team that kicked and pushed the ball aimlessly while waiting for the referee's final whistle," Chidambaram said, delivering the JRD TATA Memorial Lecture here.

He, however, said all coalition governments are not 'condemned' to a similar fate.

"I believe that if coalition governments can deliver high growth, as well the normal beneficial consequences of high growth in the form of increase in employment and reduction in poverty, there will be cause to celebrate, and the ruling coalition can go back to the people with confidence for a renewal of the mandate," Chidambaram said at the lecture, titled Economic Policy Making in a Coalition Era, organised by Assocham.

Referring to the achievements of the UPA government, which will complete 30 months on September 30, he said the most striking feature of the economy in these ten quarters is that there has been uninterrupted growth in the GDP in every quarter.

Pointing out that it is possible through patience and perseverance in a coalition government to achieve victory for reason, Chidambaram cited the example of Prime Miniser Manmohan Singh convincing the allies that reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in higher education educational institutions can go hand in hand with maintenance of excellence.