P. Chidambaram

"Rahul Gandhi should take tuition from P Chidambaram on the difference between " 'write-off' and 'waive-off'. The Narendra Modi government has not waived off any loan. 'Write off' is a normal accounting process. It doesn't stop recovery or action against defaults," senior BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday announced a Rs 50,000 crore special liquidity facility for mutual funds, days after Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund decided to close six debt schemes.

The finance ministry on Thursday froze inflation-linked allowance for 50 lakh central government employees and 61 lakh pensioners till June 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, DA and dearness relief (DR) at current rates will continue to be paid, it said.

"There is overwhelming evidence that more and more people have run out of cash and are forced to stand in lines to collect free cooked food. Only a heartless government will stand by and do nothing," he said.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, "The poor have been left to fend for themselves for 21+19 days, including practically soliciting food. There is money, there is food, but the government will not release either money or food. Cry, my beloved country," he said on Twitter.

"With unemployment at 23 percent (CMIE) and a freeze on daily wages/incomes, the government must immediately find the resources and remonetise (give cash to) the poor," he said in a series of tweets.

He also welcomed the ICMR's advice to the government for starting antibody tests in hotspots, as it was overdue.

Chidambaram also suggested a 10-point plan to put money in the bank accounts of the poor and the marginalised, including farmers and labourers, and demanded a cut in GST rates by 5 per cent on all wage goods, essential goods and services, and all goods of mass consumption

The senior Congress leader took to twitter to question the delay

The former finance minister also hoped that there would relief measures and cash incentives offered to the poor in view of the virus threat and lockdown.

"For nearly a week, I have pleaded for a lockdown throughout the country for 2-4 weeks. My plea was met with silence and, in some cases, by derisive trolls," he said.

On asked about the declaration of election results and the delay in his constituency, the former minister said he was not aware of the time when the election results were out and also in most of the places he knew it was only during that time the official results were announced.

The opposition has been demanding a discussion on Delhi riots, but the government has not relented.

The comments came a day after Yes Bank was placed under a moratorium, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) capping deposit withdrawals at the bank at Rs 50,000 per account for a month and superseding its board.

Addressing a rally in Kolkata, Shah assured people of the minority community that not a single person will lose citizenship due to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"Delhi Government is no less ill-informed than the central government in its understanding of sedition law," Chidambaram tweeted.

A head constable was among seven people killed and at least 50 others, including several paramilitary and Delhi Police personnel, were injured as violence spiralled over the amended citizenship law in northeast Delhi on Monday.

Addressing a meet here against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the former Minister, citing the BJP's brute majority in Parliament, asked what was the guarantee that the government would not bring in an amendment, similar to the CAA, to give a push to its idea of a "Hindu" country.

"Another example of the BJP government's shortsightedness and misplaced priorities," he charged.

Speaking at the JNU campus here, the former Union minister said the CAA was an outcome of the "NRC fiasco" in Assam that left 19 lakh people out of the document.