Ruling party takes part in Opposition stir in New Delhi

Chennai: In a surprise move, the AIADMK on Wednesday joined the Opposition protest spearheaded by Congress and attended by MPs of archrival DMK against demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in Parliament House.

The AIADMK’s floor leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, P. Venugopal and A. Navaneethakrishnan, joined the protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue. The two leaders were found talking to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is rallying the Opposition against the ruling party on the issue of demonetisation.

The AIADMK, which has 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, has been bailing out the BJP Government in the House of Elders for the past two years and the Tamil Nadu’s ruling party joining hands with leaders of Opposition parties, including the Congress, has raised many a eyebrow in the state and national political circles.
Last week, the AIADMK had outright rejected Congress’ charge that it was helping the BJP Government by trooping into the well of the Rajya Sabha on Cauvery issue, when almost the entire Opposition was agitating demanding a detailed discussion on demonetisation issue.

Just a few minutes before joining the protest, the AIADMK MPs submitted a memorandum to finance minister Arun Jaitley asking him to release Rs 3,000 crore in new currency to cooperative banks in Tamil Nadu and allow them to accept repayment of loans in scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations.

“Since the issue that we raised with the finance minister and the issue on which the Opposition was protesting were the same, we joined the protest to protect common man’s interest. Our interest is only to protect the common man. The party joined the protest with permission from our leader Hon’ble Amma,” Mr Navaneethakrishnan told Deccan Chronicle.

On the DMK also taking part in the protest, the AIADMK floor leader said his party joined the agitation only to highlight the sufferings of the people due to demonetisation and that no political motive should be attributed.

The DMK, which is an ally of the Congress, also took part in the protest and its MP Kanimozhi was seen in the front row. DMK spokesperson and MP T.K.S. Elangovan said the only political significance about the protest is that it is getting bigger every day.

“The opposition against demonetisation is getting stronger and the AIADMK giving support to a people’s issue is welcome,” he said.