Venkaiah Naidu assails Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram for criticising note ban

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ex-Finance Minister P Chidambaram for criticising the government's demonetisation decision, Senior Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today accused them of not having done anything to curb the menace of black money and instead allowed "loot and plunder" through various scams.

Asserting that Modi has shown "political courage" by taking demonetisation decision, the minister said there may by temporary pain but it was for long term gain. It is a "strong pill for a long time ill caused by Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and his party," he added.

Referring to Singh's allegations that demonetisation is a "monumental management failure" and case of "organised loot and legalised plunder", Naidu alleged, "Manmohanji loot and plunder happened in your regime. You presided over the loot and plunder of 2G, 3G and CWG...Congress has no moral right to criticise the Prime Minister."

Accusing Singh of not having done anything to stop "parallel economy", Naidu said,"I challenge Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh to come out with one single instance where they have shown the intention of fighting (the menance) of black money."

He said Modi government had to take the gigantic step of demonetisation as chemotherapy to fight the "cancer of corruption". "And like there are side effects of chemo, this also has temporary effects," he added.

He also said that the government was advocating "less cash or minimum cash economy and not advocating cashless economy".