Visit by PM's mother to bank was mere photo op: Deshprabhu

A senior Congress leader today termed as a "photo op and political stunt" the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother to a bank in Gujarat for exchanging demonetised currency notes.

"The act of the Prime Minister's mother going to the bank to exchange old notes is a political stunt and photo op," Congress' Goa spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu alleged.

Accompanied by relatives, Modi's mother Hiraba (97) yesterday visited a branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) at Raisan village, and got notes worth Rs 4,500 exchanged.

"She (Hiraba) was accompanied by 10-15 women and was given a direct access to the (bank) counter without waiting (in queue) for it," the Congress leader claimed.
 

An Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) official had yesterday said Hiraba came to the bank like any other citizen, waited outside in the queue for senior citizens and went inside when her turn came.

Referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's visit to a bank in Delhi for exchanging notes worth Rs 4,000, Deshprabhu said, "Rahul Gandhi stood in a line for two hours and then reached the counter. He had gone to the bank as a common man."

Interestingly, the Congress vice-president himself had refrained from commenting on Hiraba's visit.

"Mine and Narendra Modi's styles are different. I won't speak about his mother," he had said in Mumbai last night.

Referring to Modi's speech in Japan, Deshprabhu said the Prime Minister "enjoyed" as common people in India queued up outside banks and ATMs for withdrawing money in the wake of demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 banknotes.

About a video clip purportedly showing Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar sitting with folded hands beside Modi during the latter's recent visit here, Deshprabhu said the Chief Minister has "humiliated" the people of Goa by his behaviour.

"For the first time in independent India, we saw a chief minister who was helplessly trying to hand over a glass of water to the Prime Minister. It was so humiliating that the Chief Minister bowed before the Prime Minister in front of thousands of people," he said.