Rahul Gandhi's right to privacy should be respected: Pallam Raju

Congress will launch a country-wide protest against the demonetisation move.

Bhopal, Jan 3: Former Minister of State for Defence and Congress leader M M Pallam Raju has said that All India Congress Committee (AICC) vice-president Rahul Gandhi's "right to privacy should be respected."

"Rahul has every right to be private. He will soon be back when the party will hit the roads to protest against demonetisation," Raju told journalists here on Tuesday while defending AICC vice-president's "short holiday trip". Raju was here to review preparations for the proposed country-wide agitation of Congress against demonetisation on January 6.

He said demonetisation and subsequent occurrences were an evidence of "monumental mismanagement." "They (BJP) had not even anticipated that ATMs need to be recalibrated. They did it all without any back-up plan," he maintained.

The former union minister alleged that BJP regime took this step (demonetisation) at the cost of the country as has been pointed out by all the renowned economists. "Country's financial health has suffered. This would have a long term impact on GDP, FDI, employment and industrial production among others. Perishable commodities are being sold at a loss or being thrown away.

"Government needs to take immediate action to alleviate such problems being faced by the poor," he added.

PTI