"Why can’t the PM come to Parliament? Naturally, he is afraid. He can address a pop concert, but not attend the House where over 200 MPs are asking him to come." Rahul Gandhi, cong v-p
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 23
Calling demonetisation a “scam”, the Congress today demanded a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the leak of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s November 8 announcement to some people in the ruling BJP.
Leading the charge against the government, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition was united and wanted two things – a JPC probe into the leak of the demonetisation move to BJP’s organisation and PM’s presence in Parliament during the debate.
The Congress refused to budge on the issue and decided to observe the “Aakrosh Diwas” on Monday against problems being faced by the people due to purging of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes from the system.
An aggressive Rahul while accusing the PM of unilaterally announcing demonetisation said, “This is the PM’s decision. His Finance Minister and Chief Economic Adviser didn’t know of it. The PM has centralised power in his hands.” He said, “The BJP organisation in West Bengal and other places knew about it. PM’s few industrialist friends were in the know of the move. Bank deposits surged ahead of the announcement. Also, did you see anyone in suit boot standing in queues for cash?”
Flanked by his Lok Sabha colleagues, the Congress V-P said his party wanted to debate demonetisation under Rule 56, an adjournment motion but the PM was afraid of allowing the same. The government is offering a discussion under Rule 193 that doesn’t entail voting.
Moments after joining 12 Opposition parties outside Parliament in a protest against demonetisation this morning, Rahul questioned PM’s absence from the House though the PM today attended the question hour in the LS for a brief period. He said, “What the PM has done is the world's biggest impromptu financial experiment.” He asked Congress state units to protest poor implementation of the move at the grass-roots level.
Meanwhile, Opposition unity appeared shaky today with the Congress staying away from the protest organised by the TMC at Jantar Mantar.
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