SP to make currency ban its poll plank

Issue to hit BJP in assembly election, say party leaders

In a bid to cash in on the inconvenience experienced by the people due to Central government’s demonetization policy, the Samajwadi Party has decided to include it in its agenda for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due next year.

The state Samajwadi Party (SP) president Shivpal Singh Yadav said his party will raise the issue (demonetisation) during its poll campaign. “The decision has adversely impacted the common people. The poor, labourers and small traders have been badly hit,” he added.

Shivpal said the ban on the co-operative banks from exchanging the old currency notes had hit the farmers “hard” in the state. “The farmers find themselves cheated by the Modi government,” he said at a party meeting here on Friday.

He said millions of farmers were dependent on the co-operative banks for sowing and harvesting their crops besides marketing their produce. The SP leader, who also chaired a meeting of the party’s women wing, asked the women to “teach the BJP a lesson” in the Assembly polls.

“The housewives are having a difficult time after the demonetisation. They are facing difficulties in taking care of their families,” Shivpal added.

The SP sources said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, during his ‘rath yatra’ across the state, will also harp on the problems faced by the people, especially in the rural areas.

The party leaders feel that demonetisation has affected the common people and provided the party an issue to hit the BJP.

On Friday, Akhilesh also appealed to the Centre to allow the co-operative banks to exchange the banned currency notes and also start lending process as the sowing season had already started.

The party workers also on Friday held demonstrations to protest demonetisation and squatted on the railway tracks near Allahabad.