Mulayam Singh Yadav slammed Narendra Modi government for ban on old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, maintaining that his party is against black money.
Singh also lashed out at Modi for the state of disorder that spread in the entire country as a result of the scrapping of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.
On Thursday, after waiting 36 hours, lakhs of anxious people made a beeline for banks and post offices to exchange their Rs 500 and 1,000 notes demonetized by the government. Most private and public sector bank branches were jammed with customers. In some places the air conditioners couldn't take the load and were either shut off or broke down. Others resorted to admitting groups of five to 10 people at a time.
Similar crowds were witnessed at ATMs which also opened up first time since Tuesday night as people rushed to withdraw the permitted amounts for their daily routine expenses.
Most ordinary activities of trade and commerce, kirana shops, saloons, multiplexes, malls and others had come to a standstill on Wednesday in the near total absence of customers.
Only customers having cards turned up to shop at those outlets accepting credit and debit cards but all others dealing in daily cash transactions including cabbies, took a big hit.
The situation on the roads normalized since Wednesday evening after both the Maharashtra and central governments announced a waiver of toll taxes on all highways till November 11 midnight.
Yet, customers resorted to panic purchases of petrol stocks, railway or air tickets to offload their existing stocks of the demonetized notes.