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Soni Mishra
Soni Mishra

CURRENCY CRISIS

DeMo blues: Opposition parties petition Prez against BJP govt

PTI12_16_2016_000140B Senior congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge addresses as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, TMC member Sudip Bandyopadhyay | PTI

Opposition parties on Friday petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee against the Narendra Modi government, who they claimed did not allow them to put their views on demonetisation on the floor of Parliament. The winter session, which ended on Friday, has been a near washout.

The opposition parties, which included the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the RJD and the JD(U), handed over a memorandum to the President, in which they complained about the government's alleged high-handedness during the winter session. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi led the delegation of opposition leaders to meet the President.

However, miffed over Rahul's meeting with the prime minister in the morning to discuss farmers' issues and to hand over a charter of demands collected from the election-going Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, many opposition parties decided not to be a part of the delegation which met the president.

Parties including the BSP, the SP, the NCP, the left parties, as also the DMK, decided to stay away as they are said to be upset with the Congress meeting the prime minister and not taking them into confidence.

This, in effect, disrupted the opposition unity, which had held during the winter session. As many as 16 parties had come together to forge a joint strategy to take on the Modi government on the issue of demonetisation.

Meanwhile, in the memorandum to the President, the opposition parties said, "We are extremely pained by this trampling of our democratic rights and the suppression of our right to present our views and make our voices heard in Parliament. We are deeply concerned that our parliamentary democratic system itself is under severe threat."

Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said: "We told the President that we wanted a discussion on demonetisation in Parliament and on problems faced by farmers and small traders. We wanted debate in Parliament, but the government flouted all democratic values and blocked it."

The memorandum also sought to bring to the notice of the President, the problems being faced by the public on account of demonetisation.

"The government has failed miserably in giving proper direction on the way out of the situation after demonetisation. They avoided Parliament and chose to speak outside Parliament," said TMC leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay.

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