Prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday refused the Opposition demand to roll back the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, saying the country has welcomed the move, informed sources said.
BCCL
Modi¡¯s stand came at a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party executive meet, sources said. The PM said the ¡°country has welcomed¡± the move but the ¡°opposition is trying to sabotage¡± it, the sources added. Later, the NDA backed Modi in his moves to curb black money.
The meeting was attended among others by BJP president Amit Shah, finance minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar. Meanwhile, the government is hopeful that nearly Rs 8-9 lakh crore will make its way back to banks by Dec 31. And it is this very number that the party is hoping will help them tide over the current crisis.?
BCCL
The initial ebullience over government¡¯s decision has sobered down, but the party insists it fully supports the decision as well as implementation. However, the party is still worried by the backlash. On Sunday, party general secretary Ramlal held two rounds of video-conferencing sessions with state presidents, general secretary incharges of each state and state functionaries monitoring the situation on ground. ¡°The state units have been instructed to facilitate those standing in queues at banks and ATMs. To supply them with tea and biscuits, ensure separate queues are made for elderly and to help those without bank accounts,¡± a senior party leader confided.
BCCL
As per estimates, 16 people committed suicide or died of heart attacks or accidental deaths post ever since the demonetisation move was announced. It is a ¡®political gamble¡¯ which BJP says it is confident of winning when ¡°larger benefit¡± will start flowing.
¡°There is no denying the anger caused by demonetisation. But has the Opposition managed to channelise this anger against government?¡± a senior leader questioned.
¡°Already, Rs 3.5 lakh crore, out of the system, has come back. With this single act if we bring back Rs 8-9 lakh back in banks, a lot of economic issues can be solved with it. There is Rs 8 lakh crore NPA, if we have money the government can even write off loan of steel and power industry,¡± a leader said.