Indian economy facing two viruses - coronavirus and BJP's pakodanomics virus: Jaiveer Shergill

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill on Monday said that the Indian economy is 'facing threat from two kinds of viruses -- one is coronavirus and the other is 'BJP pakodanomics virus'.

"Medicines may be able to control and contain the coronavirus but bigger worry is that the BJP pakodanomics virus is incurable till 2024 and it will damage the Indian economy," Shergill told ANI.

"BJP is behaving like a classic doctor who declares that there is no need to panic. BJP should come out of their picnic mode and deal with the real-time panic situations of controlling the coronavirus and economic crisis, which are truly at the panic stage. They should make efforts so that 'Incredible India' does not become 'Lockdown India," he added.

Shergill also accused the BJP of changing narratives over the years.

He said: "The way the Indian economy is closing up. BJP should change its election symbol from lotus to lock. In 2014, BJP slogan for Indian republic was '15 lakh lelo', 2018 it changed to 'pakode lelo', and in 2020 BJP's new slogan for Indian industry is 'tala lelo."

Reacting on the Yes Bank crisis, he said: "CBI and ED must investigate the 'thugbandhan' between Yes Bank and BJP leaders. They should investigate the reasons why between 2016-2020, the loan disbursement increased from Rs. 98,000 crore to Rs. 200,000 crore. It should also be investigated why PM Modi attended a summit sponsored by Yes Bank on Mar 6, during the period of moratorium."

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the CBI had filed an FIR on March 7 against Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Kapoor was handed over to the Enforcement Directorate till March 11 by Mumbai's Special Court on Sunday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed several restrictions, including a Rs 50,000 cap on withdrawal until April 3 this year, saying that the bank's financial capability has undergone a steady decline largely due to the inability of the bank to raise capital.

Former State Bank of India Chief Financial Officer Prashant Kumar was appointed administrator of Yes Bank last week on Thursday. A day later Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the restructuring plan for Yes Bank will be implemented within 30 days.