Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday launched a formal battle against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre by leading a statewide sit-in against the demonetisation drive. Thousands joined the sit-in across the state.

Addressing the sit-in in Patna, Prasad declared a war against the federal government, saying his battle would continue until Modi is removed from the throne. He also exhorted the masses to remove Modi from power to save the nation.

“Throw out Narendra Modi from the throne to save the nation,” the RJD chief said to a cheering crowd.

In his address, Yadav hit out at the PM for spurring unemployment, questioning the ‘intention’ of the general masses and bringing the entire nation in a queue, and warned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have to pay the price in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

“Our workforce has turned jobless overnight and they are returning home as they have no work right now. The BJP will have to pay the price in the upcoming UP state polls. It will meet the same fate as that of Bihar elections,” he warned, accusing Modi of acting like a dictator.

He also charged the Prime Minister with letting the nation down, saying the Modi government had failed to bring back black money stashed in Swiss bank as promised by him on the poll eve. “After failing in his mission, the PM is now beating about the bush by talking of cracking down on benami [anonymous] property,” he alleged, adding the common man was on the streets while the rich were in their homes.

However, both the Congress party, headed by Rahul Gandhi, and the Janaat Dal United (JD-U), led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, stayed away from the RJD’s protest programme over currency ban in what many believe as a major setback to unity in the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar.

“The Congress party will not join the dharna [sit-in] programme of the RJD. Different political parties are opposing the currency ban in different manners,” was how state Congress president Ashok Chaudhary told the media on Tuesday hours before the RJD event. He said they would chalk out strategy over the issue if the political parties opposing the issue reach at a consensus.

The RJD attacked the Congress for taking a different line over the issue and accused the grand party of destroying the opposition unity in the country. “The Congress has bulldozed the Grand Alliance unity by staying away from RJD’s protests programme,” said RJD national vice-president Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. He described it as the “strategic blunder” of the Congress.

He also hit out at the JD-U for not distancing itself from the RJD’s programme over notes ban and asked the latter to “correct” its stand. “Nitish Kumar has committed blunder by supporting the demonetisation drive of the Prime Minister despite being the leader of the Grand Alliance in Bihar,” said Singh.

The JD-U, however, denied the allegation saying in democracy, political parties hold the right to take different stands on different issues. “We may differ over the issues of national interest but we are surely one over the issue of governance in Bihar,” state JD-U chief Vashishtha Narayan Singh said.

The JD-U has openly supported the demonetisation drive of the Prime Minister and had also stayed away from a sit-in staged by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Patna last month.