Cong stages protest in Kerala over demonetisation

Opposition Congress in Kerala today hit the streets as part of its protest against demonetisation with many senior leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, state party chief V M Sudheeran and MP Shashi Tharoor, courting arrest across the state.
The agitation targeting central government establishments was part of the country-wide stir called by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) against the Narendra Modi government's "failure" to resolve the problems faced by the common man following cash crunch due to demonetisation.
MLAs, MPs and AICC representatives led the picketing in front of various central government offices, including head post offices, across the state with thousands of workers taking part in the agitation.

Chennithala and Tharoor were detained when they picketed outside the Reserve Bank of India's Regional Office here, while Sudheeran was arrested in Thrissur.
AICC Secretary Deepak Babria led the protest in front of the BSNL office in Kochi.
Leading the agitation in front the head post office in Kozhikode, former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said he stood firm on his allegation that there was a move to hand over the contract for the printing of plastic notes to a UK-based company which has "reportedly been black-listed".

He also said he would take the legal course if the Centre refused to respond to his charges.

There were reports of a scuffle during the protest when party workers tried to break the police barricade and enter the RBI office premises in the state capital.
"We were on a peaceful dharna outside RBI office, but we were arrested by the police and later released," Tharoor said.
The protests were organised under the aegis of respective District Congress Committees.