Black or white,' asks Chidambaram on money seized during Punjab, UP polls

Hyderabad: Former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday took a fresh dig at the Centre over demonetisation, citing the seizure of cash in new denominations during the elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Citing that Rs 121 crore had been seized from UP and Rs 70 crore from Punjab during the assembly elections in the state, Chidambaram questioned the Modi government's crackdown on black money.

"Is there no black money in country now? During the election, Rs. 121 crore was seized from UP and Rs. 70 crores was seized from Punjab. Is that white money?," he asked.

Chidambaram further stated that while the printing capacity is Rs 300 crore per month, Rs 2400 crore of currency notes has been withdrawn.

"There is still a cash shortage in the country as ATMs will be useless if note sizes are changed as replacing the old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes with the Rs 2,000 notes will need machine recalibration," he added.

He further said that instead of the RBI recommending the government on the anti-graft policy, the government had recommended it to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and instead of 10, only two directors of the central bank attended the meeting.

Earlier, Chidambaram targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the BMC poll results, saying that the results should not be considered as a referendum for the success of demonetisation.