BJP's dig at Rahul Gandhi: Read from paper if you want, why shy away from demonetisation debate

Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi for accusing the government of helping black money hoarders with the amendment to I-T law, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday asked the Congress leader to give such a statement inside Parliament and wondered whether his party is “interested in debate or rules of debate”.

“Rahul Gandhi can say these things inside the House also. Why is he shying away from the debate? Why? If he is more comfortable reading his statement, read that also. But after so many days, today they walked in and they walked out, walked out and walked in.

“Are they interested in the debate or rules of the debate,” he said outside Parliament.

Opposition parties, including Congress, are demanding the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the entire discussion on demonetisation and have sought a debate under rule 56 which entails voting.

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Taking a dig at the demand for discussion under rule 56, Prasad said, “As far as voting part is concerned, there is the country’s mandate... BJP swept in Gujarat, did so well in Maharashtra, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. They lost in Bengal and Tripura....come and have a debate,” he said.

Earlier, Gandhi said the amendment to the Income Tax law, passed in Lok Sabha yesterday, would allegedly help black money hoarders with half of the unaccounted cash now be returned to them.

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The government has given 50 per cent of the black money back to hoarders, he said.

The Taxation Laws (2nd Amendment) Bill provide a window to legalise black money after paying tax on the amount post-demonetisation. As per the bill, those who disclose black money to banks will have to pay 50 per cent tax, including surcharge and penalty.