WB BJP chief requests Jaitley for Rs 250 cr in new currency

WB BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for immediate release of Rs 250 crore in Rs 500 notes for state.

Kolkata, Dec 7: In a bid to take away the sting of Opposition campaign initiated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over demonetisation, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has requested Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for immediate release of Rs 250 crore in Rs 500 notes.

"The opposition over the issue of demonetisation is centered in West Bengal. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is trying to provoke the people against the BJP government by whipping up the issue of scarcity of notes, especially of Rs 500 denomination," he told reporters here.

So to blunt the opposition attack, he had shot off a letter to Jaitley requesting him to immediately dispatch Rs 250 crore in Rs 500 denominations so that she can not raise this issue, Ghosh said. He questioned Banerjee's concern for the masses by asking why she is not writing to the Centre demanding more notes like other chief ministers of the country.

"If she was really concerned about the people she would have written to the Centre, just like other chief ministers have written demanding more new notes of 500 denomination. Rather doing that, she has opted for politicsing the issue. This only shows the true colour of TMC," Ghosh said.

Continuing her tirade against Modi, Banerjee had vowed to fight till the end against the "anti-people" decision of demonetisation which, she claimed, had imposed an "undeclared financial emergency" in the country. Banerjee had staged a sit-in in Delhi on November 23 and also met President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue.

PTI