Note ban Modi's sole contribution, jokes Digvijaya

With barely four days to go for India's richest municipality — the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — elections, mudslinging, demonizing and demonetisation are the common refrain.

Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh told reporters in Mumbai on Friday that it was surprising to see that despite being together in ruling governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena are openly mudslinging each other and their hold on the BMC over the past 20 years had no ideology except "fighting over share in the loot."

Assuring total transparency in the BMC working after winning the elections — in which it is contesting all wards — he said Mumbai's progressive development and betterment would be the centre of focus if the Congress wins.

"Our Skill Development programme became Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Skill India and another of ours into his Swach Abhiyan. However, demonetization is his sole contribution to India's losses as not a single country worldwide is having cashless transactions in their economy and yet – in India – his push for demonetization caused terrible loss to 96 per cent of the people in the country."

"The BJP's condition is serious in the five states holding elections presently and this is due to demonetisation affecting business to the tune of Rs 15 to 20 lakh crores. I don't understand the reason behind demonetisation as instead of black money coming out, much more than what they (BJP) had expected came out in the open.

While physical counting of demonetised money is continuing, I fail to understand why in Prime Minister's push for 'Digital World' — the RBI is not doing it digitally and why this will take another three months more?"

"While the Central government is finding it impossible to trace people with fake notes, the Finance Ministry is issuing warnings daily and trying to scare the people," Singh quipped.