Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who addressed a rally against demonetisation at Azadpur Mandi and later turned up at the Reserve Bank of India office, faced protest at both venues with people raising slogans in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Arvind Kejriwal and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee drove straight to RBI office in Parliament Street from a rally in Azadpur wholesale market in East Delhi where they made a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over demonetisation.
Security personnel struggled to maintain order as a huge crowd gathered with some raising pro-Modi slogans while some others cheered for Kejriwal.
Earlier, scores of people protested near the dais ahead of the AAP supremo’s rally against demonetisation at Azadpur Mandi waving black flags and demanding that Kejriwal be sent back without addressing the rally.
Police said that they have detained people who were raising slogans. Kejriwal was not present at the dais when the protestors reached there and raised slogans against him for misleading people over the government's decisio to scrap Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
After addressing the rally, both the Chief Ministers held a demonstration outside the RBI, wanting to know availability of currency.
"How much currency needed? How much printed? What is capacity? How many more days will it take? Myself and Mamtadi at RBI to get this info," Kejriwal tweeted.
Banerjee said they came to RBI to know whether the Central bank has enough currency or not. "Our main apprehension is shortage of currency. We are here to check whether there is enough cash to disburse among the people."
TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who along with some other TMC MPs accompanied Banerjee, said officials of RBI failed to come up with satisfying answer when asked about availability of currency for distribution.
"They gave us last year's report on the availability of notes. Ultimately the two leaders had to go without getting any satisfying response," she said.
Few RBI officials spoke to Kejriwal and Banerjee when they were camping outside the bank.
One Rachna Wadhwan who was waiting to take out money from RBI complained to Banerjee and Kejriwal that she has been standing since morning to take money to buy medicine but the line has barely moved.
"I am a patient of blood pressure. I have been standing since morning. I told them about my plight," she told reporters later.
