Cong hold protests against demonetisation in Gujarat

Congress workers on Monday held protests outside the residences of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other BJP leaders across the state to highlight the cash crunch faced by people following demonetisation, on the eve of 'Bharat bandh' called by opposition parties.

Clarifying that Congress never backed 'Bharat bandh' call given by opposition parties tomorrow, the party said its workers would instead hold protests against the problems being faced by common people in procuring new currency notes.

"Congress was never associated with the Bharat bandh call. Gujarat Congress had only given a call for Gujarat bandh tomorrow, which we have decided to postpone. Instead, our workers will hold demonstrations across the state by observing the day as 'Jan Akrosh Diwas'," state unit party president Bharatsinh Solanki told reporters here.

He said new programmes would be launched against government if the ground situation on cash crunch doesn't improve within a week from now.

The party held protests in various parts of the state on Monday.

In Rajkot, at least 30 workers of Congress were detained for staging protests outside the Chief Minister's bungalow located near Nirmala Convent School.

The workers shouted slogans against demonetisation and demanded Rs 100 notes in exchange of scrapped currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 from Rupani, who was not present in his house at the time of the demonstration.

"Congress workers gathered outside CM's residence and started demanding Rs 100 notes as part of their protest against demonetisation. We have detained around 30 workers," said DCP (zone-II), Karanraj Vaghela.

Agitations demanding Rs 100 notes were also held in Ahmedabad, Morbi, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Himmatnagar, Navsari, Anand, Bharuch, Mehsana and other towns.

In Ahmedabad, around 50 Congress workers were detained by Bopal police for staging protests outside the bungalow of former chief minister Anandiben Patel.

MLAs from the city, including Bhushan Bhatt (Khadia) and R M Patel (Asarwa) too faced similar agitations.

In Ranip area, around 30 Congress workers were detained by police for holding protest outside the residence of BJP MP from Ahmedabad (West) Kirit Solanki.