Maha Assembly: Prithviraj Chavan suggests introduction of Rs 200 notes

The former chief minister also asked the govt to lift restrictions from district co-operative banks

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has suggested that currency notes of Rs 200 denomination should be introduced and said that there was no need to bring into circulation Rs 1,000 notes again.

Chavan aired this view during his speech in the Assembly, wherein the combined Opposition criticised the Modi government for putting common man, farmers, poor, vendors and rural population in great trouble due to demonetisation.

Initiating the debate, Chavan said the decision was taken with an eye on State Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Launching further attack, he said surprisingly the Government was promoting foreign-linked payment gateways.

"We should not encourage foreign-linked payment gateways," said the Congress leader.

On restrictions imposed upon district cooperative banks, the Opposition demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis use his good offices to convince the Central government and Union Finance Minister to solve the issue as transactions at these banks have come to a grinding halt.

"The rural economy is on the verge of collapse," Chavan said, and questioned the wisdom behind the decision.

He wanted to know if the BJP and Chief Minister Fadnavis can say on oath that black money was not used in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He asked: Did they use debit and credit cards for electioneering?.

Ridiculing the idea of cashless economy, Chavan said nowhere in the world has such an economy been fully implemented.

Talking about the cooperative bank's crisis, the former Chief Minister said, "If some have committed irregularities in implementation, they should be penalised. Their banking licences should be cancelled but beneficiaries of the cooperative sector should not suffer."

Chavan said the then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had warned against the demonetisation.