'Gold appropriation' row: Prithviraj Chavan clarifies; cites Monetization Scheme

After BJP slammed his suggestion of the Centre appropriating gold of all religious trusts, former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday claimed that his tweet had been deliberately twisted. Posting a 2016 reply by former MoS Finance Jayant Sinha in the Lok Sabha, he stated that the Gold Deposit Scheme had been commenced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Noting that the Narendra Modi government had renamed it to the Gold Monetization Scheme in 2015, Chavan pointed out that 8 temples across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir had deposited their gold as per the reply of Jayant Sinha. Moreover, the senior Congress leader announced that he would initiate legal action for the attempt to communalise his suggestion. 

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BJP questions stance of the Congress party

According to Chavan, the gold worth $1 trillion could be borrowed by the Union government at a low-interest rate and utilised in the ongoing "emergency" COVID-19 situation. Lashing out at the former Maharashtra CM, former BJP Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya questioned whether Congress president Sonia Gandhi had asked Chavan to put forth this demand. Thereafter, he asked the Congress party to clarify whether it backed Chavan's point of view. 

BJP's Kirit Somaiya opined, "Prithviraj Chavan has demanded that the government should appropriate the gold lying in temples. I want clarification from Prithviraj Chavan that has Sonia Gandhi asked you to make this demand? Is this the stance of Congress? Is this the demand of the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states?"

Read: Congress' Prithviraj Chavan Tells Govt To Borrow '$1 Trillion' Gold From Religious Trusts

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