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Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge speaks during the winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Friday. Image Credit: PTI / TV GRAB

New Delhi: Mounting a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress on Monday, said leakage of demonetisation decision had helped BJP leaders buy property by converting their black money through various means a few months before it was announced.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Prime Minister of “selective leakage” of demonetisation move to his own party men, who converted their black money through property and other avenues.

“This shows who are the real supporters of black money,” he told reporters outside Parliament House.

Kharge said democracy functions through discussion and asked the Prime Minister to participate in the debate in Parliament on the issue if he believed in democratic values.

“If the Prime Minister believes in democracy, he should come to Parliament and participate in the debate and answer the concerns raised by the opposition on the demonetisation issue.

“You think you are a ‘samrat’ (king) and the country runs on the diktat of the ‘samrat’. Instead of speaking outside, you should come to Parliament and speak,” he said.

On the Prime Minister not speaking inside Parliament, he said, “If he speaks like this, he knows he could face privilege and contempt”.

Terming demonetisation as the “biggest scam”, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also accused Modi of leaking the demonetisation move to top BJP leaders, alleging they bought land using their black money.

The party released a list of some BJP leaders who allegedly bought 8 land parcels worth Rs34.1 million in Bihar in the run up to the November 8 demonetisation move.

Surjewala, flanked by Congress spokespersons Rajiv Gowda and Sushmita Dev, alleged that post expose of deposit of money in bank accounts of BJP leaders just before the demonetisation, “documents now prove” that BJP leaders bought the land.

“Modiji’s mask of fighting black money is off. Stop mocking the people of India and Parliament and look in the mirror. Make all BJP accounts public and tell the details of all property purchased by BJP leaders over the last one year and the truth of demonetisation scam will be out,” he said.

“Layers of demonetisation scam are getting unearthed by the day as a series of BJP transactions get exposed. Demonetisation is emerging as the biggest scam that needs to be probed through JPC and responsibility fixed,” Surjewala said.