PM Modi should quit, say Mamata and Rahul

Led by Indian Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, a clutch of eight opposition parties asked PM Narendra Modi to resign, calling demonetisation a "megascam" and saying he had failed to keep his promise on restoring normalcy in 50 days.

The demand was articulated strenuously by Banerjee who compared the PM to screen villain "Gabbar". Accusing the government of creating problems for opposition leaders, from Mayawati to Sonia Gandhi, she said, "If we say something, they say `Gabbar aa jayega`".

Gandhi initially distanced himself from the demand, calling it "Mamata`s suggestion" and saying the PM must answer for the hardships resulting from his "personal initiative". But as Mamata raised the pitch, Rahul too embraced the demand and - asked for the second time what if Modi did not oblige - retorted, "if he does not resign, we will put pressure on him to resign."

The bloc is planning countrywide protests against demonetisation. At the joint press conference - marked by significant absentees like Left, JD(U), SP, BSP and NCP - Rahul sought to renew focus on his charge that the PM should submit to a probe in the context of allegations that he took bribes from Sahara and Birla groups during his tenure as Gujarat CM.

To back up her demand for PM`s resignation, Mamata said that chaos over notebandi has not ended after 47 days and PM was no magician to work a miracle in the three days left in his 50-day deadline. "In the name of cashless, government has become faceless and baseless," she said caustically.

Rahul said, "It was on the PM`s personal initiative that this arbitrary financial experiment was carried out for the first time in world shistory that affected 1.3 billion people. Such an experiment was never done even during Mao Zedong`s reign in China".

The Congress vice-president said the Prime Minister should institute a "free and impartial" probe into Sahara diaries seized during income tax raids which allegedly list him as a beneficiary of corporate bribes. He reminded that four Union ministers and BJP patriarch L K Advani had resigned from Parliament over Jain-Hawala diaries in 1990s.

"Sheila Dikshit has demanded an investigation. Why is he not saying this? Why does Narendra Modi have problems with a probe?" he asked.

Source: Times of India