Shah tells MPs to publicise note ban

 BJP chief Amit Shah on Friday ordered all party MPs to spend a week in their constituencies to publicise the benefits of demonetisation.

His directive to party functionaries came in response to murmurs within the BJP ranks that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sudden decision on banning high-value notes on November 8 could have been executed more smoothly to avoid cash crunch had more consultations taken place.

Shah said the MPs must move out to explain to people and worry over possible negative impact on the BJP’s poll prospects.

His directive came after the prime minister too made it clear at the party’s parliamentary meeting at the end of the Winter Session that his government was not on backfoot. Rather, his government would forge ahead with other
plans in the wake of demonetisation.

Shah is understood to have been taken aback at a meeting on Thursday when some BJP national office-bearers expressed their misgivings and described their fears of a negative fallout of the government’s decision to withdraw high-value notes.