Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu who initially supported demonetisation now took a U-turn saying that he hasn’t looked for this kind of decision that has allegedly led to the death of innocents. He said this isn’t the demonetisation he has looked for to put a curb on black money. He mentioned that abolishing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 without prior alternative preparations is a distressful decision.
The Chief Minister in TD workshop mentioned that it is painful to see the pensioners struggling in bank queues, waiting for their pensions. “So hereafter we will take the responsibility of giving pensions to the elderly by going door-to-door, as it was done earlier,” the CM said. Mr Naidu also objected to the introduction of the Rs 2,000 denomination notes and said in his political career he hasn’t seen this kind of a problem that has not been solved even after months.
Mr Naidu, who notably heads a 13-member committee appointed by the Central government to look into demonetisation issues, warned that unless remedial measures are taken, people’s woes would continue in long term. “Demonetisation was not our wish but it happened. More than 40 days after demonetisation, there are still a lot of problems but yet there appears to be no solution,” he said addressing a workshop of MPs, MLCs, MLAs and other leaders of his Telugu Desam (TD) here.
“It still remains a sensitive and complicated problem,” the Chief Minister said. “I am spending two hours daily to ease the problems caused by demonetisation. I am breaking my head daily but we are unable to find a solution to this problem,” the CM said. “We could resolve the ‘August crisis’ (an internal party coup in 1984) in 30 days but this (demonetisation) still persists,” he said.
He said banks were “not prepared” for a transition to digital economy. “They are unable to even register banking correspondents,” he added. Mr Naidu had initially been a strong proponent of the ban on high denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. On November 9, a day after the PM came out with the demonetisation announcement, the TDP had even claimed credit saying it was a “victory for Chandrababu” over his fight on corruption.
