New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress leadership of "desperation" in the face of his "tough" demonetisation decision and said it was the first time that a concerted effort was made by the Opposition to "openly" protect the dishonest through disruptions in Parliament.
He also slammed Manmohan Singh, who had described demonetisation as a "monumental mismanagement" and an "organised loot", and sarcastically said that his predecessor might have been referring to the "unending string of scams" like 2G, CWG and coal block allocation "under his leadership".
Modi said while the honest will not be harassed, those with black wealth have "only a few days to hide" and will not be spared.
"I pity a few of our opponenets, especially the Congress leadeship, for the desperation they have been exhibiting...Congress leaders are entirely pre-occupied with only one thing - elections.
"There is nothing political in the demonetisation decision...It was a tough decision taken to clean up our economy and our society. If I were guided by short term electoral politics, I would have never done so," he told a media house in an interview.
