BJP state chief Kummanam RajasekharanThiruvananthapuram: Stung by the decision of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to stage a dharna before the RBI office here on the Cooperative issue, BJP hit back saying it was an agitation sponsored by "black money hoarders".
Both LDF and UDF have become "agents" of black marketers and hoarders, BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan alleged after inaugurating the secretariat march of Yuva Morcha demanding a probe into the arrival of container loads of fake currencies in the state years ago.
"It was the necessity of black marketers to sabotage the Center's decision on the demonetization of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and state government was allegedly becoming part of it," he said.
It is because of this, the state government was trying to obstruct the functioning of RBI tomorrow, he said.
Defending the Center's decision, he said the Union government only want that the cooperative societies in the state function as per RBI's directives.
But the societies were not keen to adhere to the norms. The Income Tax department itself had found that there was black money in some cooperative societies, he alleged.
Instead of controlling them, turning against the Center and BJP was only to "cover up" their failure, he said.
BJP leaders also met governor justice (retd) P Sathasivam and apprised him of the strike by LDF leaders.
They wanted the governor to prevent any obstruction on the functioning of RBI due to the dharna.
He claimed governor had assured them that the matter would be brought to the notice of the chief minister.
With Kerala's Co-operative sector coming to a standstill due to currency crisis, Vijayan had earlier in the day said that he along with his ministers would stage a dharna before the RBI office demanding steps for its protection.
Announcing the decision, he stated that this was the first step of the agitation against the Center's decision not considering the co-operative sector on par with other banks to carry out exchange of demonetized notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500.
(With agency inputs)
