(With agency inputs)

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that the current government was obsessed with trying to fix blame on opponents and unable to find solutions. Singh's remarks came a day after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed the former PM and ex-Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan for the present crisis in the banking sector.Sitharaman has said that the Indian public sector banks had the "worst phase" under the combination of Singh and Rajan.The former Prime Minister and senior Congress leader also spoke on the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank crisis."It's very unfortunate what has happened in the case of this (PMC) bank. I expect the government, Maharashtra government and RBI put their heads together and provide a credible, pragmatic and effective solution to this case where 16 lakh depositors are trying for justice."He appealed to the Maharashtra chief minister, the Prime Minister and the finance minister to look into this matter and resolve the grievances.Painting a grim picture ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the former PM said that the current slowdown in the country coupled with government apathy has badly hit the Indian economy."There is gloom in the automobiles hub of Pune, slowdown has led to a large number of factories shutting down in Maharashtra. The state is hit by a grave economic crises, but the government seems obsessed with trying to fix blame," Singh said.In a quick response to the former PM's comments, Union minister Piyush Goyal said, "Manmohan Singh should reflect on his own failures, where he went wrong, why he couldn't maintain a strong economy and give an honest government. Why he was so helpless that he had to obey orders and had no capacity to take his own decisions."