Congress, JD-U won't join RJD protest against note ban

The Congress party and the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Tuesday made it clear that they will not join the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)'s 'Mahadharna' (huge sit-in programme) against demonetisation on December 28 in Bihar.

"The JD-U will not support or join any protest against demonetisation until party President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has supported demonetisation as a step against black money, reviews and analyses its impact after 50 days," JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told the media here on Tuesday.

President of the Bihar unit of Congress Ashok Choudhary said his party would not participate in the Mahadharna against demonetisation on Wednesday.

"The Congress will not support RJD's protest programme against note ban," Choudhary, who is also the Bihar Education Minister, said.

The JD-U, Congress and the RJD are constituents of Bihar's ruling Grand Alliance.

A day ahead of the formal launch of the protest against demonetisation, it is a setback for Lalu Prasad.

Last week Lalu announnced that the RJD will on December 28 stage a sit-in at all district headquarters across the state. He and Rabri Devi will join the sit-in at Patna.

The party has also planned a massive rally here early next year.

Lalu has been attacking the Prime Minister for the 'flop demontisation show' and the central government's failure to implement the decision properly.

Unlike Nitish Kumar, who has been supporting demonetisation, the RJD chief has opposed the scrapping of Rs 500/1,000 notes ever since its announcement on November 8.

Lalu had a few days ago expressed hope that Nitish Kumar will join his party's protest programme.

--IANS

ik/nir/vm