Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes has shocked and upset leaders across the political spectrum, apparently due to the “losses” they have suffered.
Individuals and staff members of ministers and office bearers of an important party whom The Sunday Guardian spoke to, said that several leaders had lost a huge sum and were upset with the PM. Speaking to this newspaper off the record, these staff members and individuals also stated that many of these leaders were in constant touch with their chartered accountants to find ways of salvaging whatever unaccounted money they could.
A high profile functionary of a big party has been telling his friends that the scheme would never succeed. A close associate of this leader told this newspaper that the leader, while interacting with two journalists on Tuesday in New Delhi, pointed at news reports showing people queuing up to withdraw money and told them that the scheme was bound to fail as no one was happy.
“People have to stand for hours in the queue and they are getting angry with every passing day; the media should focus on such visuals more. I have around Rs 3 crore in my home and it is just lying there. God knows what I will do with it,” he told the two journalists.
A young MP from a central state has been trying to park his unaccounted money with the help of his family members who are also in politics. This MP has been cursing the government privately, as the demonetisation, according to his official staff, has delayed his plans to invest a huge sum of money in developing residential colonies in the state capital. The MP, who had already invested a vast sum in buying plots in the state capital, is now looking at different ways, including “hiding and sitting” on it until times change.
A female politician has been confiding to her party colleagues that close to Rs 5 crore that she has in cash has now become useless. According to her, her family members were finding it hard to believe that she was not aware of the demonetisation move despite being a well-known politician close to several top officials. Similarly, a veteran MP of the Upper House, who is known for having a comfortable cash deposit with him, has been seeking advice from CAs, lawyers and his friends in the Income Tax Department on how he can “use” the cash that he has at three different places including Delhi and two cities of a central state where he has a house each.
“Sir is very worried and has been upset since the last week. His temper increases when the media asks him questions on how he felt about demonetisation. So he has stopped meeting the media and is now more concerned about saving his money. This is his last term as MP and he is very worried,” a long time personal staff of the MP said.