Opposition united on demonetisation & PM Modi's corruption: Rahul Gandhi

Opposition united on demonetisation, but some parties have local compulsions too: Rahul Gandhi

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said all opposition parties -- even those who did not attend a joint press conference in Delhi -- were united on demonetisation and Prime Minister Narandra Modi's alleged corruption.

The opposition is united on demonetisation and Modi's corruption, though every party has some local compulsions and he respects it, the Congress leader said at the joint press conference here.

Out of 16 opposition parties that opposed the government on demonetisation in the winter session of Parliament, only eight attended the joint presss conference, including the Congress, Trnamool Congress, DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-Secular, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Indian Union Muslim League and All India United Democratic Front.

"Every day, during Parliament's winter session, all parties were together on the issue of demonetisation. Not even one party was away.

"Every party said they are together on demonetisation and Modi's corruption. But parties also have local compulsions and we respect those compulsions," Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said: "Opposition unity is a process and it is going forward. You can ask all opposition parties -- they will tell you uniformly that they agree on the stand we are taking on demonetisation and on the Prime Minister's corruption."

"There are slight differences in the perspective of these parties. We are happy to embrace them. We see all opposition parties as assets, as people who represent people in this country.

"Every party have some differences, but broadly, everyone will say that demonetisation is a failed experiment. All opposition parties believe in the democratic principles," the Congress Vice-President added.

On meeting the Prime Minister on December 16, the last day of Parliament session, which may have irked some political parties, Gandhi said: "I did a 30-day campaign where I committed to the people of Uttar Pradesh that I'll take two crore of their forms they had filled up and submit to the Prime Minister. I only fulfilled that commitment."

"I told them I'll take these personally to the PM. It was a commitment to the farmers," he added.