Thiruvananthapuram: Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely on Friday assured the delegation of MPs from Kerala that he would take up the issue of cooperative sector with the RBI. During the meeting held with MPs in Parliament complex. Jaitley hailed the functioning of Kerala's cooperative sector saying it was exemplary in many ways. The RBI had imposed curbs on the district cooperative banks from exchanging demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations.
The MPs' delegation led by former defence minister A. K. Antony apprised Jaitley of the serious problems being faced by the cooperative sector following RBI curbs on district cooperative banks. The delegation informed the finance minister that the poor sections- especially small farmers, agricultural workers and petty shopkeepers- were badly affected by the RBI decision to decline exchange of demonetised notes at the district cooperative banks. The MPs said if the curbs continued, the rural economy of the state would be in dire straits. They sought Jaitely's immediate intervention to resolve the crisis in cooperative sector.
Meanwhile, reacting to Union Finance Minister's assurance to take up the matter with RBI governor, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, "We are taking his assurance on face value. But our apprehensions continue because of the past experience that we have had in such matters." He said while Arun Jaitley had given a positive assurance, the BJP leaders in the state continued to adopt an anti-cooperative sector stand.
The BJP leaders in the state want to bring the cooperative sector under the direct control of RBI. "They are making such statements as if RBI is in the pocket of BJP," Mr. Pinarayi said. Meanwhile, BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharam termed the satyagraha ‘unconstitutional’ and demanded the government to withdraw its stir that would seriously affect state’s financial condition. “The CPM is jittery because it has so many things to hide in cooperative sector,” he alleged.
