Demonitisation: Uttam questions KCR's silence over public suffering

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the silence being maintained by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao over the rising sufferings of common man due to unplanned move of Demonitisation of higher value currency notes by the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre.

Addressing a press conference at Warangal on Friday, Uttam Kumar Reddy accused KCR of having dual standard on the issue of Demonitisation. At one side, the Chief Minister is admitting of losses to Telangana State due to sudden Demonitisation. On the other, he is not speaking on behalf of people who are facing severe hardship and inconvenience due to Centre's insane move. He said KCR should emulate other Chief Ministers in the country who are openly speaking against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "KCR is apparently trying to take political advantage by supporting the Centre at this juncture. However, he is not realising the negative impact of his decision on the people of Telangana State," he said.

The TPCC chief said that the Demonitisation has derailed the country’s economy and Telangana was among the worst hit States. He said all sections, especially traders and farmers, were facing lot of inconvenience due to shortage of cash. He said former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, in his speech in Rajya Sabha, has rightly described the Demonitisation move as ‘monumental mismanagement’, ‘organised loot’ and ‘legalised plunder’. He said that the Prime Minister should answer Dr. Manmohan Singh’s query wherein he asked him to name thecountries where people have deposited their money in banks but are not allowed to withdraw their money. He said that the Prime Minister should take Dr. Manmohan Singh’s views seriously as the latter was a noted economist and also headed the RBI as its Governor before ruling the country as Prime Minister for two terms.

The Congress leader said that while people are unable to withdraw their own money from the bank accounts and the Centre has been issuing new guidelines on daily basis. He said that the Centre's latest decision of not allowing exchange of old notes at banks has put lakhs of people into trouble. "People living in 30 out of 31 districts of Telangana will now have to travel to Hyderabad to get their old notes exchanged at Reserve Bank of India. They will have to bear the travel cost and also lose their day's earning to visit RBI counter in Hyderabad to exchange only Rs. 2,000 notes. The Central Government is innovating new means every day to torture the common man," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the BJP Government was resorting to falsehood to mislead the nation on the basis of bogus surveys on Demonitisation. He said not even 1% of people in the country were supporting the way Centre has implemented Demonitisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 currency notes. He reiterated that the Congress party was totally against black money. However, he said that the party was only opposing the way in which the Prime Minister implemented the Demonitisation process causing misery to the common people.

He announced that the Congress party would observe "Aakrosh Diwas" on November 28 wherein protest rallies would be organised across the Telangana State. He directed all party workers to actively participate in the protest to express anger over the inhuman and insensitive attitude of both Central and State Governments towards the people who are facing problems due to Demonitisation.

Former PCC president Ponnala Lakshamaiah, MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, ex-minister D. Sridhar Babu, ex-Chief Whip Gandra Venkataramana Reddy and other senior leaders were also present in the press conference.