Demonetisation wars: Congress clamours for PM Modi's presence in Parliament

With the Opposition huddling up ahead of the Parliament session today, where turbulence is expected over the issue of demonetisation, the Congress is planning to put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show in the House and address the matter at hand.

Speaking to reporters here, Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said that an adjournment motion has been passed on this issue and the opposition will be looking to raise the matter of demonetisation in the Parliament unitedly.

"We will start the discussion on the issue and then we are going to insist on the Prime Minister's presence in the house. We are all against blackmoney, but the Centre's intention is different regarding demonetisation," Kharge said.

Yesterday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Amit Shah turned up the heat on the opposition in a strong move to corner them on the demonetisation debate, saying that opposition parties were climbing "the same tree like rats, cats and snakes to escape the demonetisation flood", and appealed to the people to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi change the country by giving him 15 years "from panchayat to Parliament".

Addressing BJP workers in Chandigarh, Shah trained his guns on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for coming down heavily against demonetisation and said he was not surprised by Gandhi's reaction since the last two UPA governments were "synonymous with scams".

The opposition has called the Centre to form a joint parliamentary committee for probing allegations of prior information on demonetisation being leaked to BJP leaders.

The Congress has been clamouring for the Prime Minister's presence in the Parliament, saying that he has a moral obligation to answer the common man whose life has been thrown in turmoil because of demonetisation.

"Fifty five people have died. Crores stand in line for the past 11 days. Banks do not have cash, ATMs do not have notes. People have money in their accounts, but there is no money to be withdrawn from their accounts," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, adding that the Prime Minister was missing from parliament since the Winter Session began.