Union minister Ramdas Athawale's RPI(A) to ally with BJP for Gujarat polls, celebrate 8 November as 'white money day'

Nagpur: Union minister Ramdas Athawale’s RPI(A), an NDA ally, will observe the first anniversary of demonetisation on 8 November as the “white money day”. Athawale said he has planned the initiative to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for targetting black money through ’notebandi’ last year, wherein high value currencies of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were withdrawn from circulation. [caption id=“attachment_4182833” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Union minister Ramdas Athawale. PTI[/caption] While Opposition parties had announced that they will observe the first anniversary of the note ban as the ‘black day’, the BJP had said it will be the “anti-black money day”. Athawale said his party will hold programmes near statues of BR Ambedkar in Maharashtra on 8 November to mark the “white money day”. He said the RPI(A) will hold the Vidarbha Rajya convention in Nagpur on 10 November. “We have invited leaders of all the political parties, including the BJP that support the cause of carving out separate Vidarbha out of Maharashtra, to attend the convention,” the Minister of State for Social Justice said. Hailing the note ban, the Dalit leader said even Ambedkar had suggested a “change in currency every ten years”. Athawale said RPI(A) will extend support to the BJP in Gujarat Assembly polls next month. He appealed to Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani and Patidar quota spearhead Hardik Patel to support the ruling BJP and not the Congress in the elections. “I am ready to act as a mediator between them (Hardik Patel and Mewani) and the state government on the issue of quota,” he said. Athawale said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi should give suggestions on implementation of GST instead of criticising it, as the party was part of its conceptualisation. “Complaints of traders on GST will be addressed by the GST council,” he said. Athawale reiterated that BSP chief Mayawati should embrace Buddhism “if she is a true follower of B R Ambedkar and is serious about fulfilling the dream of late Kanshiram”.