Mamata, Congress compel govt. to talk on demonetisation

The BJP-led NDA Government, which is facing flak post its demonetisation drive, will be holding parleys with the opposition today in an effort to break the deadlock in Parliament.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar will hold discussions with opposition leaders at around 10 a.m. to ensure no further disruption of the Winter Session of Parliament.

Rejecting the demand of opposition parties to roll back the decision on demonetisation, Naidu yesterday said the nation has supported the government's step to unearth black money and added that the decision has been taken keeping in view of the welfare of the farmers and the marginalised sections of society.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a bold decision to curb black money by invalidating the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denominations.

Emphasizing that this decision will promote cashless transaction in society, Naidu further said that this move has severely damaged the cause of terrorists and separatists.

Naidu's assertion came as the opposition parties questioned Prime Minister Modi's absence in Parliament and alleged that this reflected the latter's "authoritarian" attitude.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi yesterday said that Prime Minister Modi must come to Parliament and address the members of parliament over the government's decision to demonetise high value currency notes.

Asserting that economy has been affected by demonetisation, Gandhi demanded the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the alleged selective leakage of the decision.

He said that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian were not even consulted by Prime Minister Modi on the decision.

Parliament was yesterday adjourned for the day following uproar over the demonetisation issue.

When the House reassembled at noon after the first adjournment, the opposition members including Congress, TMC, Left and RJD, demanded a discussion on the issue under a relevant rule which entails voting.

A united opposition yesterday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament against the demonetisation of high value currency notes.

The major parties, which participated in the protest, are Congress, BSP, JD-U, TMC, AIADMK, NCP, Left, RJD and the Samajwadi Party. The MPs raised slogans and displayed posters against demonetisation.