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CoverStory                                                                                                                                                                                               CURRENCY









































           Rahul Gandhi is                                                                                                                                                                                Falling rupee, rising
           in focus post the                                                                                                                                                                              fuel prices may hurt
           Bharat Bandh                                                                                                                                                                                   BJP in 2019 polls



               worries over US-China trade war.                                                                                the economy had collapsed in the last two years and   tion and printing of more  200 and  100 notes so as
                                                                                                                               “the growth rate is on the decline too... There is no   to help the common man, besides recommending
               EX-ALLY HITS OUT                                                                                                financial discipline in the country now,” the chief   digital currency for higher transactions. “But the
               N Chandrababu Naidu, the chief of the Telugu Desam   Finance Minister Jaitley                                   minister rued.                                   NDA government did the exact opposite to what I
               Party that was part of the ruling NDA till recently,                                                              The Telugu Desam Party had earlier this year   had suggested as the convenor of digital economy.
               has launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led national   attributes the fall in                                    ended its four-year-long alliance with the BJP, com-  I demand that the Modi government ban  2,000 and
               coalition over the weakening of the rupee against the                                                           plaining that PM Modi did not deliver on his prom-  500 notes at least now and make smaller currency
               dollar and the increase in fuel prices. “Where are we                                                           ise to give Andhra Pradesh a special category sta-  available for the people,” he said.
               heading to,” the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, the   rupee to global factors,                                  tus that could have given the state access to higher   Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit out
               former ally of the BJP who turned into its sharpest                                                             central funding. The TDP’s exit from the national   at prime minister Narendra Modi on the declining
               critic this year, asked, blaming what he described   saying that there is no                                    coalition also coincided with sharper attacks on the   rupee vs dollar rate, and the hike in the price of pet-
               were the faulty policies of Prime Minister Narendra                                                             centre on the economy and his assessment of PM    rol and diesel. Accusing Modi of doing the same thing
               Modi’s government.                               need to panic since the                                        Narendra Modi’s surprise decision to ban high value    that he used to blame the Congress for during the
                 “The value of rupee is falling down rapidly with                                                              currency notes in 2016. An early supporter of the   United Progressive Alliance regime, the Aam Aadmi
               every passing day. I am not surprised if it touches    RBI was doing whatever                                   currency ban to unearth black money, the chief   Party (AAP) leader said: “Prime minister (Modi) used
                100 per dollar in the coming days. The prices of pet-                                                          minister wondered what the centre had achieved   to talk a lot about rupee and petrol before becoming
               rol and diesel are shooting up steeply and very soon,                                                           by going in for demonetisation. “Every citizen of the   the prime minister. But now, the BJP is saying what
               the price of petrol might touch Rs 100 per litre.” Naidu   is necessary to deal with                            country has suffered a lot due to demonetisation.   the Congress used to say. Earlier, the Congress was
               said at a media conference in Amaravati where his                                                               Even now, liquid cash is not available and people are   responsible for inflation, now it is the BJP. The com-
               government the state’s new capital. “They are going   the situation                                             not able to draw money from ATMs,” he said.      mon man is the one who is suffering,” he added
               to hit a century. And, the rupee will also touch the                                                              Naidu, who was appointed as the convenor of
               century mark. You can then buy petrol paying a dol-                                                             the committee on digital economy soon after the    BANKERS’ TAKE
               lar.” Naidu was unsparing in his attacks on the centre                                                          demonetisation, recalled that he had suggested    A cross section of bankers observe that the Reserve
               for the state of the economy as well. He claimed that                                                           banning of currency of  2,000 and  500 denomina-  Bank of India (RBI), however, will not be comfort-



                                      TEHELKA / 30 SEPTEMBER 2018  20  WWW.TEHELKA.COM                                                               TEHELKA / 30 SEPTEMBER 2018  21  WWW.TEHELKA.COM


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