Mamata, Kejriwal to petition President on demonetisation

The Chief Ministers of Delhi and West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee, will participate in a march on Wednesday to Rashtrapati Bhavan to press for the rollback of the Centre's demonetisation decision.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is also expected to join the march led by the Trinamool Congress.

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes will no longer be legal tender from November 8 midnight, Trinmaool supremo Banerjee has been up in arms against the move.

She has reached out to opposition parties, including arch rival Communist Party of India-Marxist, for putting up a united fight against what she said was an "anti-people" move.

"Mamata will be walking tomorrow (Wednesday) to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and we are going to the meet the President (Pranab Mukherjee). Besides Delhi Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah will be present," Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien said on Tuesday.

"We have spoken to the Left (parties); we have spoken to others like the Shiv Sena. This is not the time for politics; this is the time to take the people's story, which is a grim story, to the President," he said.

While Banerjee had called up CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury to express concern over the demonetisation move, the Marxists are unlikely to be part of the Trinamool march.

Replying to media queries on CPI-M joining the march, Yechury said his party will confront the Modi government in Parliament first and decide its future course of action based on the government's response in the house.

The Trinamool, though, appeared unperturbed.

"It is not about the left or the right; it is about everyone. It is time to act, the matter (demonetisation) has already spun out of hand," said O'Brien.

--IANS

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