PM Narendra Modi will address a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur today; Congress' Rahul Gandhi in Jaunpur
Highlights
- PM Modi to hold rally in Kanpur, Rahul Gandhi to do the same 300 km away
- BJP mocked Rahul Gandhi over his 'earthquake revelation' comment
- Mr Gandhi vowed to make notes ban key issue in upcoming UP election
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress vice President Rahul Gandhi took their notes ban battle today to Uttar Pradesh, where elections will be held soon. In Kanpur, PM Modi attacked opposition parties for not allowing Parliament to function in the winter session and accused them of scuttling crucial debate on holding simultaneous national and state elections and on the funding of political parties. The Opposition, he said, was defending the corrupt by opposing the ban on 500 and 1000 rupee notes aimed at eliminating black money.
Prime Minister Modi urged the Election Commission to pressure political parties to ensure transparency on the donations they get. He had said, "urged all leaders that the country expects honesty. There is mistrust against political parties. So it is our responsibility to make people believe in our honesty....But they did not let Parliament function because they did not want to debate the issue."
Speaking less than an hour later in Jaunpur, about 300 km away, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the notes ban had punished the poor with the cash crunch that has followed and rewarded the rich. "PM Modi has taken the blood of 99 percent of the people without their permission," the Congress leader said.
But Mr Gandhi again did not oblige those who have urged him to reveal the "information" on the "personal corruption" of PM Modi that he claimed last week he has. Rahul Gandhi had said last week that he wanted to make that revelation in parliament, of which he is a member, but was not being allowed to speak by the government.
The BJP has described it as the "joke of the year," and has mocked Mr Gandhi, daring him to make his "earthquake revelation."
PM Modi singled the Congress out for attack in speech today, accusing it if having had no accountability to the people in the decades that it ruled the country. His government, he said, had accounted for every action in its two and a half years of rule.
The notes ban the PM said was a historic step in the fight against corruption.But, he said, it was not the Prime Minister who would be remembered for it, but the people who stood up to fight against corruption.
The winter session of Parliament, which ended last Friday, was washed out as the government and opposition failed to agree on how to debate PM Modi's ban on 500 and 1,000-rupee notes and the hardships that people have had to ensure because of the massive cash crunch.
The BJP has attributed its recent success in by-elections and civic polls in several states as evidence that the people support PM Modi in his decisions to remove corruption. But some BJP lawmakers from Uttar Pradesh have reportedly told the party leadership that if the cash situation is not eased soon, it could impact the BJP's fortunes in the assembly elections.
The Reserve Bank of India or RBI on Saturday flew in Rs. 5,000 crore in a heavily guarded cargo plane to Uttar Pradesh, news agency IANS reported, quoting an unnamed official. The move was seen as an attempt to ensure banks had enough money to distribute to people in the state ahead of the Prime Minister's rally today.
The BJP and the Congress are placed in a four-corner contest in the state, pitted also against regional heavyweights, the ruling Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. The SP has said a partnership with the Congress would mean winning over 300 of UP's 403 seats together.
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