Government leaked demonetisation info to select few: Cong

After Arvind Kejriwal’s charge, the Congress on Friday accused the Modi government of selectively leaking information about its demonetisation plans to help a select few who deposited their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with banks before the surprise announcement on Tuesday night.

 The Congress also hit out at the government for unleashing “financial chaos and anarchy” in the country and inconveniencing the common man by making it difficult to access his own hard-earned money.

Kolkata incident
 The Opposition party cited reports about BJP units in West Bengal and Gujarat making huge deposits in banks in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the sudden announcement of demonetisation.

 “Who are the people who purchased huge quantity of gold, foreign exchange security bonds between October 20 and November 8? The government should issue a list. It would tell who are the hoarders of black money,” senior AICC spokesman Anand Sharma said.

 Sharma said that the prime minister should understand ground realities “before the situation goes out of control”.

‘Raise issue in House’
The issue will be raised prominently by the Opposition, including the Congress, in winter session of Parliament commencing next week, he said when asked of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s plea for all opposition parties to come together on the issue.

 “This is a government which is insensitive, a government which is arrogant, which has created a myth and carried away by its own propaganda. They have created a financial chaos and anarchy like situation in India,” Sharma said.

 The Congress also dug out a January 23, 2014 press statement of the BJP which had criticised the UPA government’s decision to withdraw currency notes printed before 2005.
“Has Shri Amit Shah forgotten his own party’s words?  Does the BJP have courage of conviction to comment on their statement two years ago? Or did they support black money then,” Sharma asked.