New Delhi, Oct 17: The Congress party on Wednesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show "courage" and announce the removal of cap on withdrawal of money by depositors of scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank.
Otherwise, it said, he should stop giving challenges to other parties on "non-issues".
The statement from Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh came at a press conference in New Delhi and appeared a response to Prime Minister Modi's repeated dare to the opposition party to declare it will reverse his government's decision to nullify Article 370 if it is voted to power.
"We, the Congress party, challenge you that...if you have the courage, you should announce that the account holders of the PMC Bank - just like before - would be able to withdraw the money and update their account," Mr Singh said.
"It is their (depositors) money. They can utilise it. Modiji should accept this challenge. If you have the courage, then you must accept this challenge and within 24 hours you should make an announcement that PMC Bank account holders can use their accounts just like before," he said.
The Congress spokesperson said his party will congratulate PM Modi "if you can get it done otherwise stop giving challenges on non-issues".
"You have got the public's mandate. You have got the responsibility. The one who gets the responsibility is the one who is held accountable...It not the opposition who has to answer questions. You should stop asking questions and start answering questions."
Following the discovery of an over Rs. 4,000-crore scam at PMC Bank, which has deposits of over Rs. 11,000 crore, the Reserve Bank of India last month appointed an administrator and capped withdrawals at Rs. 1,000.
A day later on September 25, the RBI increased the withdrawal limit to Rs. 10,000 and on October 3, this limit was increased to Rs. 25,000. And now it has been hiked to Rs. 40,000.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear on October 18 a plea seeking seeking directions for interim measures to safeguard the money of customers blocked in the bank.
The top court agreed to hear the plea amid three deaths linked to the crisis in the bank.
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