No one preventing PM from speaking in Parliament: Congress
The Congress said not even once had the PM made any statement on demonetisation inside Parliament.
New Delhi: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "misleading" people on demonetisation, Congress on Saturday said no one is preventing him from speaking and the opposition is only demanding the PM's presence in Parliament to debate this critical issue.
Attacking the Prime Minister for his remarks that he has not been allowed to speak in Lok Sabha, senior spokesperson of Congress Anand Sharma alleged that Modi was "habitual of peddling untruths" and also asked as to why he did not wait to announce the demonetisation decision in Parliament when the House had been summoned by the President.
"Prime Minister is habitual of peddling untruths. Nobody has prevented the Prime Minister from speaking. He should not mislead the people. Only thing the Opposition has asked is that he should listen to us, participate and answer our questions because it is he who made this announcement.
"He could have waited for Parliament to begin on December 16 to make this (demonetization) announcement as the Parliament stood summoned by the President," Sharma said on Saturday to Modi's remarks that he was not being allowed to speak on demonetisation.
The Congress said not even once had the PM made any statement on demonetization inside Parliament.
"We are demanding that if he makes a statement and everybody listens, then he should be prepared to respond to our questions also. We cannot allow this that he makes the statements outside, he has actually unleashed financial anarchy," Sharma said.
There is a deadlock in Parliament with government and the opposition sticking to their demands.
"Opposition is not allowing me to speak in Lok Sabha, so, I have decided to speak in 'jan sabha' (people's assembly). But, whenever I would get a chance, I will try to represent the voice of 125 crore people in Lok Sabha," Modi said today at a rally in Gujarat, in a retort to the opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi accusing him of running away from speaking on demonetization in Parliament.
The Winter Session of Parliament that started on November 16 has been rocked by opposition protest over demonetisation and has so far been a virtual washout, with both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha not doing any significant business.