Will set up JPC to probe demonetisation 'scam': Manish Tewari

A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) will be set up to probe demonetisation if the Congress is voted to power at the Centre, former Union minister and Congress candidate from the Anandpur Sahib seat Manish Tewari said Thursday.

Demonetisation was a "scam" that ran into hundreds and thousands of crores and responsibilities needed to be fixed for it, Tewari said here. The Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab goes to polls on May 19 in the last leg of the seven-phase parliamentary elections.

"Demonetisation was not only a huge financial scam, it was like brutal murder of the economy and responsibility needs to be fixed for it and those guilty brought to book," he said.

"The Congress party's government at the Centre will set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the demonetisation scam," Tewari said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in his poll rallies, have been targeting the Modi government over demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax, claiming that these two decisions "destroyed" the economy.

Tewari further dubbed the decision of demonetisation as "arbitrary and dictatorial" that hit every section of the society.

He said the move "destroyed" the livelihood of hundreds and thousands of people across the country, and as such, it needed to be probed.

The former Union minister said currency notes worth about Rs 16 lakh crore were demonetised on the evening of November 8, 2016 by the Modi government and there was a need to find out whether the same amount of currency was printed subsequently.

Tewari is pitted against sitting MP and SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra, AAP nominee Narinder Singh Shergill and BSP's Sodhi Vikram Singh.