Demonetization: Uttam questions KCR’s silence on public suffering

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has condemned the silence of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao over the suffering of common people due to the unplanned move of the Centre to demonetize higher value currency notes by the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre.

 

Addressing the media at Warangal on Friday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused Chief Minister KCR of adopting dual standards on the issue of demonetisation. On one side, the Chief Minister was admitting huge losses to Telangana State due to the sudden demonetization, on the other, he was not speaking on behalf of harassed people who are facing severe hardship due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “insane” move. He said KCR should emulate other Chief Ministers in the country, who are openly speaking against the Prime Minister. “KCR is apparently trying to take political advantage by supporting the Centre at this juncture. However, he is not realizing the negative impact of his decision on the people of Telangana State,” he said.

 

The TPCC chief said the demonetisation has derailed the country’s economy and Telangana was among the worst-hit States. He said all sections, especially traders and farmers, were facing a lot of hardship due to acute scarcity of cash. He said former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, in his speech in Rajya Sabha, had rightly described the demonetization decision as ‘monumental economic disaster, organized loot and ‘legalized plunder’. He said the Prime Minister should answer Dr Manmohan Singh’s query wherein he asked him to name the countries where people have deposited their unaccounted money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw their money. He said the Prime Minister should take Dr Manmohan Singh’s views seriously as the latter was a noted economist and also headed the RBI as its Governor before ruling the country as Prime Minister for two terms.

 

The Congress leader said while people are unable to withdraw their own money from the bank accounts, the Centre has been issuing new guidelines on daily basis. He said the Centre’s latest decision of not allowing exchange of old notes at banks has put millions of people to trouble. “People living in 30 out of 31 districts of Telangana State will now have to travel to Hyderabad to get their old notes exchanged at Reserve Bank of India. They will have to bear the travel cost and also lose their day’s earning to visit RBI counter in Hyderabad to exchange Rs 2,000 notes. The Central Government is innovating new means every day to torture the common man,” he added.

The TPCC president alleged that the BJP Government at the Centre was resorting to misinformation campaign to mislead the nation on the basis of bogus surveys on demonetization. He also said not even one per cent of people in the country were supporting the way the Centre has carried out demonetization of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes. He reiterated that the Congress party was totally against black money. However, he said the party was only opposing the way in which the Prime Minister announced demonetization without making alternative arrangements causing agony to the countries millions.

The State Congress president also announced that his party would observe “Aakrosh Diwas” on November 28 wherein protest rallies would be organized across the Telangana State. He directed all party workers to actively participate in the protest to express anger against the “inhuman and insensitive” attitude of both the Central and State Governments towards the common people, who were groaning under demonetization of big currency notes.

Former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, former minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu, former chief whip Gandra Venkataramana Reddy and others were present. (NSS)