'Shaken man' Chidambaram architect of UPA's monumental corruption: BJP

After former finance minister P. Chidambaram described the Center's demonetisation scheme as the biggest scam of the year and asked for a thorough probe into the move, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday questioned the rationale behind his comment and said he who was the architect of the UPA government's monumental corruption.

BJP leader G V L Narsimha Rao said Chidambaram is a 'shaken man' and that certainly he has to worry because of the kid of corruption and the kind of black money generation happened when he was the nation's finance minister.

"It is so farcical that Mr. Chidambaram, who as finance minister, perpetuated the biggest scam of the century. The 2G scam was carried out under Chidambaram supervision, with his consent. He was the one who forced the hand of Mr. Manmohan Singh. He was hand in glove with A. Raja in ensuring that the 2 lakh crore spectrum scam was perpetuated in this country. And today, Mr. Chidambaram has the gall to talk about corruption and about scams," he said.

He said Chidambaram and his party have perpetuated the biggest scams of the century all over the world.

"Mr. Chidambaram it is you under the Congress party that have a patent on perpetuating corruption in this country.. It is Chidambaram who made light of the Coal Gate scams worth against another 2 lakh crore . So, Mr. Chidambaram who was the architect of Mr. Manmohan Singh government's monumental corruption today is questioning this government in taking up a demonetisation drive which is an attack against corruption and black money," he added.

Lauding the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rao said, "this government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the last two-and-a-half years have given a transformational governance, a transparent government. Even the opposition could not raise one iota of allegation against our government."

Echoing similar sentiments, another BJP leader Nalin Kohli said Chidambaram's comment on demonetisation is almost anfascinating and astounding proposition.

"Is the creation of black money is not a criminal act? How black money got created in the last seven decades should that not be a criminal act? Then what 2G, coal gate and the so called zero lost theories were they great bonafied act, were they not malafied and criminal acts? But interestingly he chooses to make the cure against black money, the cure against terrorist funding, the cure against fake currency a criminal act? Nothing can be more astounding than this proposition," he told ANI.

Chidambaram today described the notes ban as the "worst attack on the poor" and said "even a natural calamity would not cause such pain."

Referring to a series of raids across India in which brand new Rs. 2,000 notes have been found, Mr Chidambaram also called it the "biggest scam of the year".

Chidambaram accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "shifting goalposts" by initially pitching demonetization as a move to check tax evasion and then talking about cashless economy.