Politicians should exercise caution when people facing

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Press Trust of India Panaji
Last Updated : Dec 08 2016 | 10:22 PM IST
Amid reports of the lavish wedding of Union minister Nitin Gadkari's daughter in Nagpur, a BJP spokesperson today said public representatives need to be "little cautious" when common people are facing inconvenience, apparently in the wake of demonetisation of high value notes.
"As I have said, whether it is a minister, a businessmen, an employee..As long as they use accounted money, there is no questionto be asked. But yes, at a time when people are experiencing inconvenience, generally we expect all public representatives to be little cautious," GVL Narsimha Rao, National Spokesman of the BJP said responding to a query on the wedding of Gadkari's daughter.
Referring to the controversy surrounding the wedding of former Karnataka minister Janardhan Reddy's daughter last month, Rao said Reddy is not part of the BJP anymore.
Ketki, youngest of three children of Gadkari, tied the knot with Facebook professional Aditya Kaskhedikar on December 4.
A galaxy of political leaders, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu, BJP president Amit Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had attended the function.
Rao said, "Let me make it clear that there is no ban on anyone's spending genuine, hard earned money on any event. Somebody has lot of money no one questionsit. But if people are using money through illicit means or unaccountable manner, this is the matter of concern and this has already been taken (up)."
Congress had alleged crores were spent on the wedding of Gadkari's daughter and demanded BJP should make public details of expenses made.
When asked about the pompous marriage of Reddy's daughter in Bengaluru last month, he said, "He (Reddy) is not part of party anymore...You are referring to big fat wedding that happened in Karnataka...It has already been raided..Inquiry is on...Anybody who dares to spend unaccounted money in this manner is onlyinviting troubles for themselves."
On the scrapping of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes announced by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, the spokesman said, "In this country, any move which is a pro-people measure instantly gets public support and anything which you consider anti-people definitely results into electoral disaster."
Dismissing speculations that demonetisation exercise will hurt the saffron party in the upcoming elections, Rao said, "Demonetisationhas greatly helped the poor and poor people today believe and the honest people believe that it pays to be honest and cost to be corrupt."
He conceded that the surprise move has caused "inconvenience" to people.
"This had to be a surprise move and not meant to be announced in days or months in advance with preparations. Therefore people aresupporting it despite the inconvenience they are facing because they have understood the spirit of it and they have understood why the PM took this bold move, and they are blessing it," Rao added.
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First Published: Dec 08 2016 | 10:22 PM IST