If people screaming for food, Jaitley cannot call opposition 'irresponsible', says Congress

Taking strong exception to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley labeling the opposition as "irresponsible" on the issue of demonitisation, Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Sunday that if the general public is being inconvenienced by the government's decision, the finance minister cannot shrug of his responsibilities by making such statements.

"Well it is easy for me to say what he has done is irresponsible. It is not an answer, we must engage in actual debate and discussion. We are saying that enormous inconvenience has been caused to the ordinary citizen who does not deserve this. They are enormous queues, people are lining up, they are screaming because they don't have food at home. All this, is something that Jaitley, as a responsible minister, has to give a reply to. He can't shrug his shoulders like that," Khurshid told ANI.

He said the present 'financial chaos' has been caused because the government has failed to gauge the impact of their decision.

Similarly, fellow Congress member and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition parties are not against the government's decision but are concerned with its unpreparedness in mitigating the currency crunch.

"Nobody is against the demonetisation, but they haven't thought it through. They did not pay attention to it and everyone is complaining about that. There are such long queues at the ATMs, in villages where there are no banks, or even if they are, it is 20-25 km away," Kharge told ANI.

Meanwhile, the Congress Party has decided to raise the demonetisation issue in Lok Sabha.

Congress party's leader Anand Sharma has given a suspension of business notice under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha for discussion on the issue of demonetisation.

Earlier, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also gave a notice in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes on November 16 and said it would bring an adjournment motion on the subject in the Lok Sabha on the same day.

The Winter Session will commence on November 16 and will be in session till December 16.