Own up & quit: Opposition to Modi

New Delhi (Agencies): Training guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation, a fractured Opposition on Tuesday asked him to own responsibility for the chaos that ensued following the currency ban and demanded his resignation if the cash crunch persisted even after the 50-day deadline.

While Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi questioned Modi's silence on corruption charges and held him responsible for the continuing hardships of the common people due to the notes ban, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee dubbed demonetisation a "mega scam" and said he ought to take moral responsibility and resign.

Both leaders addressed a joint press conference here, along with leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Janata Dal-Secular, Indian Union Muslim League and All India United Democratic Front.

However, several important partners in the anti-demonetisation campaign - Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Left parties, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP), skipped the event.

"The Prime Minister is telling the nation that he is fighting against corruption but when it comes to allegations against him, he does not respond," said Gandhi, referring to his repeated allegations that Modi benefited financially from Sahara and Birla corporate houses when he was Gujarat Chief Minister.

On demonetisation, he said it had no impact on corruption or black money laundering but was rather an attack on the country's poor while creating "a new black market has emerged -- to convert black money into white".