In Varanasi, Kejriwal tells people not to vote for BJP

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the note ban and urged people not to vote for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

Towards the fag end of his 40-minute speech, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said Modi would not have become the Prime Minister but for the huge support the BJP got in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

He said it was now the responsibility of voters in Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh to teach the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a lesson for what he said was a crisis sparked by the November 8 ban on 500 and 1,000 rupee notes.

The BJP won a record 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh in 2014 while an ally bagged two more seats, leaving only seven seats to the battered opposition.

Kejriwal claimed that although the BJP railed against black money and corruption, 70 per cent of the donations it received was in "black money".

"Modi and BJP are now fond of lecturing the country to use Paytm instead of making cash payments. Why doesn't the BJP start taking donation through Paytm?" he asked to loud cheers at the public rally.

The AAP leader has been campaigning against the government move to demonetise 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to fight corruption, black money, terror funding and counterfiet currency.

Kejriwal said the government had failed on all four fronts miserably.

"A dangerous situation has arisen" because of the November 8 decision, he said. "The economy is in shambles. In fact, Modi has taken the economy back by 20 years."

He said due to the unprecedented cash crunch caused by demonetisation, businesses had been affected, traders were facing losses, farmers and the poor were without cash and people had to queue up daily to withdraw money from banks and ATMs.

Kejriwal alleged that Modi and BJP President Amit Shah came up with the demonetisation scheme in order to waive off the huge loans owed by leading corporate houses to banks.

He also said the BJP invested its "black money" in land deals ahead of November 8 and at the same time tipped off millionaire friends close to the party.

--IANS

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