CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Saturday described the Centre’s decision to withdraw Rs 2,000 notes from circulation as a ploy to cover up the BJP’s drubbing in the Karnataka elections. BJP’s ally and principal opposition party in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK, has not reacted to the RBI’s decision yet.
In a tweet, Stalin said there are 500 doubts, 1,000 mysteries, and 2,000 blunders, and the BJP is using one more ploy to cover up its miserable defeat in the Karnataka elections. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of excavation work at Porpanaikottai in Pudukkottai on Saturday, Minister for Finance and Archaeology Thangam Thennarasu said, “When the RBI takes such a decision at one point in time and takes another decision contrary to the earlier one, state governments who are stakeholders on such issues should be taken into confidence.”
He also recalled that when the demonetisation decision, which affected the Indian economy, was taken, the DMK opposed it. In the future, RBI should consult all stakeholders when it takes such decisions, he said.
CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said the RBI’s decision has proved that 2016 demonetisation has failed miserably. “Democratic forces should rise unitedly to remove the BJP from power since the party doesn’t have democratic ways of weighing pros and cons for any measure before implementing by it,” Mutharasan said.
VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said the 2016 demonetisation move affected the people badly. The present decision too would affect small traders who depend on cash transactions. “There is more political motive behind the decision than economic objective. The government should drop it,” he said.
Meanwhile, BJP state president K Annamalai, in a letter to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has alleged that DMK members may use machinery at their disposal, especially cooperative banks/societies and Tasmac, to exchange the Rs 2,000 notes in their possession. “We request the finance ministry instruct banks to track 2,000 rupee notes coming through above sources,” Annamalai said.