Nitish Kumar denies U-turn on demonetization, claims he made his stand clear earlier

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stuck to his viewpoint on Monday that the outcome of the Centre's demonetization exercise was disappointing and denied making any "U-turn" on the issue.

"It is an interpretation of the media (U-turn)...I have made my stand clear on the subject in my speech on the birth anniversary of veteran socialist leader Karpoori Thakur on January 24 and while reacting to the General Budget on February 1," he told reporters in Patna while replying to a question on his recent criticism of the Centre on the outcome of demonetization.

Kumar was also critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's raincoat barb on his predecessor Manmohan Singh. "Language should be of standard and it should be dignified," he said.

In an apparent recall of the prime minister's "DNA" jibe at him during the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls, the JD(U) chief said, "Undignified language was used against me also, but I never lowered the language of political discourse."

Kumar, who had initially supported the demonetization move, had expressed disappointment over its outcome after 50 days. This was interpreted in the political circles as a U-turn by him on the issue. The chief minister once again sought to know, "How did the country benefit from demonetization?"

He reiterated that no drive against black money could yield the desired results without initiating action against 'benami' properties and criticised the non-payment of compensation by the Centre to those who faced the immediate brunt of demonetization.