Demonetisation has not benefitted people, says Kumaraswamy

Former chief minister and JD(S) State unit president H D Kumaraswamy said that scrapping of currency did not benefit the commonman. The promise of unearthing black money has not been fulfilled through demonetisation, he said.

Kumaraswamy told reporters at Muguluvalli here on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was criticised by economists for his move on demonetisation. A huge amount of money was spent on reprinting currency notes, he said.

'GST unscientific'

Stating that the government had not discussed about the pros and cons of GST, he said the GST rates are "unscientific". The NDA government has failed to take the country on the path of development and progress. In spite of a slash in the prices of crude oil in the international market, the government has failed to reduce the price of petrol and diesel in the country.

He accused the government of failing to come to the rescue of farmers who are in distress. "The Modi government is engaged in only delivering speeches," he said.

Slamming the Congress-led state government, Kumaraswamy said that the government is only issuing advertisements. Had the government used the money spent on advertisements for the development of villages, several villages would have developed in the last five years, he said.

The government has failed to protect the interest of arecanut, coconut and coffee growers. The Centre has also failed to implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee. Even the Gorakh Singh committee report has not been implemented, he said.

List of candidates

The JD(S) president said that the list of 150 candidates will be released by the month-end. A JD(S) executive committee meeting will be held at Hubballi on November 16, he said.

"I have been holding grama vastavya to connect with the people and to understand their problems. This in turn will help in preparing the election manifesto. Revanna did not take part in the JD(S) rally at Mysuru owing to a pre-planned programme. There is no confusion in the JD(S). Prajwal Revanna is an aspirant to contest the election," Kumaraswamy said.