Ashok Chavan dares Shiv Sena to withdraw from government

Mumbai: Congress state president Ashok Chavan on Thursday asked Shiv Sena to withdraw its support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government if the party was unhappy with the demonetisation decision. He further said that Congress will take along only secular parties in its fight against demonetisation and will not ask Sena though the latter is opposed to the decision as well. Beginning January 8, 2017, Congress plans to launch a statewide protest against demonetisation.

“We will take only secular parties in the agitation against demonetisation. But asking Sena is out of question. The party is in the government. If they do not support demonetisation, they should withdraw from the government,” Mr Chavan told reporters.

Taking an aggressive stand against the BJP-led government at the Centre and in Maharashtra, state Congress on Thursday demanded a judicial probe into cases where old currency worth crores of rupees had been seized from individuals and institutions connected to the BJP.

Mr Chavan said old notes amounting to crores of rupees had been seized from the private vehicle of state cooperation minister Subhash Deshmukh. Similarly, scrapped notes belonging to Vaidyanath Bank had been seized from a private vehicle just as demonetised currency totaling 550 crore had been deposited in the Ahmedabad district cooperative bank where BJP chief Amit Shah was director on the same day when the demonetisation decision was announced.

Mr Chavan said BJP leaders in Bihar had invested in land deals while the West Bengal unit of BJP had deposited a huge amount in the bank a few hours before demonetisation. “We don’t expect the government to investigate these cases. Hence, the judiciary should take suo moto notice of the developments since demonetisation and order a judicial probe,” he demanded.