Centre reaches out to states on demonetisation

NEW DELHI: As it brazens out political opposition to demonetisation in Parliament, the Centre is reaching out to states by forming a committee of chief ministers with a mandate to suggest ways to make India a cashless economy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has spoken to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to head the chief ministers' panel, for which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik are also being co-opted.

Sources said Jaitley had spoken to all the three chief ministers. Incidentally, the three were among the first to back Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of junking old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

The panel is to review the ground-level situation following the decision to demonetise high-value currency and suggest possible ways to ease hardships and inconvenience.

Besides assessing the public impact, it is also to come up with a road map towards a cashless economy.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would also be part of the committee. However, there is no decision on who will be picked from Congress and Left-ruled states.

The sources said names of chief ministers of Puducherry and Himachal Pradesh, V Narayanasamy and Harish Rawat, respectively, have been mooted from among the Congress fold.

The final call on the issue will have to be taken by the party, they said, adding that Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is also believed to be in the reckoning from among Left states.