Calling demonetisation an "ingeniously designed official money laundering scheme". Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said PM Narendra Modi's promise of ‘acchhe din’ was in shambles as none of the objectives of demonetisation materialised. “GST collections, as well as direct tax collections, are short of estimate. The government will not be able to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3% for 2019,” he said at a press conference in Kolkata.

Commenting on the rift between RBI and Central government, Chidambaram accused the Narendra Modi government of trying to "capture" the Reserve Bank of India to tide over its fiscal crisis, warning that any such move would be "catastrophic".

He alleged that the government has packed the central bank's board with handpicked nominees, and was making every attempt to push through its proposals at the RBI board meeting on November 19.

"The government stares at a fiscal deficit crisis... The government wants to step up the expenditure in an election year. Finding all avenues closed, in desperation, the government has demanded ₹1 lakh crore from the reserves of RBI," the former finance minister said.