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  Metros   Delhi  09 Dec 2016  Modi must quit for chaos, says Mamata Banerjee

Modi must quit for chaos, says Mamata Banerjee

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Dec 9, 2016, 3:16 am IST
Updated : Dec 9, 2016, 6:45 am IST

Chief minister also accused the PM of making questionable investments by PSUs and then trying to write off the loss as NPA.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee during a press conference at Nabanna. (Photo: Abhijit Mukherjee)
 Chief minister Mamata Banerjee during a press conference at Nabanna. (Photo: Abhijit Mukherjee)

Kolkata: A month after demonetisation,  Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stepped up the ante against Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that he should take the moral responsibility for the derailment of the country’s economy and hence step down.  

Describing this one month period as the darkest period in the country’s economy at a press conference in the state secretariat Nabanna on Thursday, Ms  Banerjee said, “A month has gone and nothing has changed for the better. The growth rate has suffered due to the man made economic crisis.  It’s a one-man dictatorship, a political emergency. This government has lost all credibility. The PM has no moral right to continue.  If he has even a little bit of moral right he should step down.”

Continuing her scathing attack the chief minister said that the common people have suffered manifold but  in the name of recovery of so called black money, the ruling party at the Centre has created assets in the form of land, bank deposits, gold, diamonds and has become more and more capitalist. “Everything is done in huge secrecy, like he (PM Modi) is some Ali Baba. It is the Ali Baba  and his associates who have been the beneficiaries. He should realise he is occupying a constitutional post,” she added.

The chief minister also accused the Prime Minister of making questionable investments by PSUs and then trying to write off the loss as non-performing assets (NPA). “The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has called into question an investment of Rs 19,576 crore by state PSU Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in its Krishna Godavari (KG) block project. The Prime Minister who was the Gujarat CM in 2005 floated this SPSU along with Urjit Patel, the present RBI governor to make a huge investment claiming that the GSPC had struck 20 Trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in its KG basin block. But recoverable reserves have proved to just one-tenth of the claim. In the process GSPC’s borrowings went up  to Rs 19,716.27 crore as of March 31, 2015, according to CAG report,”Ms Banerjee said.adding that Modiji  must have a   hidden agenda while appearing in adverstisements in  private companies while  pressing for  a cashless society.

She congratulated people for being patient even as they stood in long queues in front of banks and ATMs for days together bearing a brunt of this unplanned move. “I thank people for their patience. But I don’t know how long will they do so? After all, law and order comes under the state list,” Ms Banerjee said.   

Earlier in the day, the chief minister had hit out at Narendra Modi through her Facebook page.”Untold sufferings have come down in the lives of farmers, labourers, workers of unorganised sectors, tea garden, beedi and jute workers, employed class, students, sick, old and infirm people,” she posted.

Tags: demonetisation, mamata banerjee, narendra modi
Location: India, West Bengal, Calcutta [Kolkata]