Rahul Gandhi plans ‘notebandi’ rallies

Lucknow/ New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who has been vehemently opposing the Centre’s demonetisation move, on Wednesday decided to hit the streets over the issue.

Mr Gandhi, while chairing a meeting of all-party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha besides senior Congress leaders, said that he would travel to every nook and corner of the country after the Winter session of Parliament, and highlight the pain suffered by public due to demonetisation.

Mr Gandhi will be addressing a series of “notebandi” (demonetisation) rallies to highlight the policies of the Modi government that, he believes, have brought much trouble to the the common man.

Mr Gandhi, who has been spearheading an Opposition campaign against the Modi government inside and outside the Parliament, will now use the issue to attack the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections.

“The unplanned and poorly implemented demonetisation decision has caused misery and hardship to the common man. It has been 35 days since demonetisation was announced and people are still queuing up for cash. Banks claim to have no cash but huge amounts of new currency notes are being found in the houses of a chosen few. Mr Gandhi will highlight all this in his rallies,” said a senior Congress leader.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Raj Babbar also confirmed that Mr Gandhi will bring out rallies in Jaunpur and Bahraich next week.

“There is something seriously wrong if people are spending all their waking hours in queues to get their own money. Does the Modi government believe that the man in the bank queues is the one with black money? The Prime Minister owes an apology to the nation,” said Mr Babbar.

Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh have also been asked to launch an offensive against the Modi government on the demonetisation move which, they claim, was designed to benefit a chosen few. The Centre’s shift from attacking black money and counterfeit currency to a cashless economy will be a focal point of the Congress campaign in UP.

The party’s campaign has slumped in the past two months due to the absence of top state leaders. The entire top leadership of the party is in the Rajya Sabha — from AICC general secretary in charge of UP, Ghulam Nabi Azad, to UPCC chief Raj Babbar to campaign committee head Dr Sanjay Singh and coordination committee chief Pramod Tiwari.

“We have not been idle— in fact, we have been doing our homework and working on the list of candidates,” Mr Babbar said.