Top black money hoarders PM's best friends: Mulayam

BAREILLY: Coming down hard on the BJP-led NDA government for the demonetisation exercise currently underway, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulyam Singh Yadav said the country’s top money hoarders were Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “best friends”.
Addressing a large meeting in Bareilly on Wednesday, part of his string of 'vikas' rallies planned for poll-bound UP, Mulayam, flanked by SP state president Shivpal Yadav, district president Veerpal Yadav and loyalist Gayatri Prajapati, added that the big ticket announcement had only hit the common man.
“I thought the PM came from a middle-class background and could understand the hardships of the poor. But his decisions, taken at the behest of his industrialist friends, has forced many, especially the poor, to commit suicide. He should have given at least six months’ time to the people before taking such a drastic step which has paralysed the entire economy,” Mulayam. said.
Mulayam’s comments have come days after Modi, during the BJP's 'parivartan rally in Moradabad next door, advised Jan Dhan account holders in the country to hold on to the surge of illegal money that has suddenly been deposited in their accounts after the demonitisation announcement of November 8.
In the course of his 30 minute-long speech, Mulayam’s attacks on Modi’s cash clampdown and the BJP dispensation at large became sharper. “The PM came to power by peddling lies and has been doing that in the run-up to assembly elections here next year. People of the state will give him a befitting reply in 2017,” Mulayam said.
In his address, Shivpal, too, questioned the PM’s decision and asked if the Centre’s policies have benefited the downtrodden. “The deprived classes are dying, but PM Modi thinks Bharat badal raha hai (the country is moving towards development). Policies of the Centre are against small-time businesspersons, industrialists and factory owners. Many enterprises were forced to shut down after the note ban,” he said.
Other leaders present at the rally also echoed similar sentiments, clearly indicating that cash-ban would be one of the poll planks of the party as it campaigns hard after the Shivpal-Akhilesh standoff.