BJP's land purchases not a new thing, to link it with demonetisation baseless: Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal

Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Saturday said land purchase by the BJP was not a new thing and to link it with demonetisation was “baseless”.

“The process of land purchase is going on routinely and it has no connection with demonetisation,” he told reporters.

The Union Minister of State for Finance claimed that the land deals in Bihar had nothing to do with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to demonetise high-value currency notes, which is “widely being welcomed” by the people.

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“Despite the difficulties, people have welcomed the decision. They stand by the prime minister and the results will have a positive and far reaching impact,” he said.

Opposition parties have demanded a probe into land purchases made by the BJP in the run-up to the prime minister’s demonetisation decision on November 8.

On Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at the prime minister that he was “laughing earlier and crying later”, Meghwal, without naming the Congress vice-president, said those who were born rich would not know what poverty was.

“The prime minister is sensitive towards the poor, but those who were born rich cannot feel poverty. The decision taken by the prime minister, which is widely being welcomed, is in the interest of the nation and the people,” he said.

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Meghwal said the government was with the families of those who died while standing in queues at banks and ATMs but added that all such incidents should be probed to ascertain the exact cause of death.