Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu Blasts Congress, Left Parties Over Planned Protests Against Demonetisation

Hyderabad: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday hit out at Congress and Left parties over their planned protests on Monday against demonetisation saying they have been cut off from the people and marginalised.

He also asked the opposition parties to allow resumption of proceedings in Parliament and discuss threadbare the issue of demonetisation over which people have "clearly demonstrated" that they were willing to bear short-term pains for long-term gains.

"It is evident that the so called akrosh of Congress is not genuine since it has no justification to be angry on the issue of demonetisation.

"It is plain and simple. How can any party be angry when the people clearly demonstrated to bear with short term pains for long term gains.

"Congress is cut off from the pulse of the people and they will pay even more heavily for their folly of such false demonstration," the Information and Broadcasting Minister said.

"The people are wise enough to see through such political games borne out of frustration. People have for long held that Left parties can never be right and, hence, they have been marginalized," he said.

Naidu was commenting on the "Jan Aakrosh" (people's anger) protest and the Left parties day-long badh planned against the government decision to junk Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes.

He said Congress was clearly rattled by eight transformational results that will forever bury the eight-fold "inimical" culture of Congress.

"This is the clear reason for it being angry. Knowing the popular support to demonetisation, Congress has changed its tactics from calling for a country wide bandh to akrosh rallies.

"From this, it is clear that all this is aimed at finding some space in the media as they have clearly lost out space in the debating forum of Parliament and the minds of the people."

Congress, he alleged, desperately tried to disrupt proceedings of Parliament for more than a week on some pretext or the other just to buy time to get support of a few other parties in "their desperate attempt for a photo opportunity".

"That is why they stalled the debate on demonetisation from concluding in Rajya Sabha and its commencement in Lok Sabha," he said.