Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ‘demonetisation’ policy, made  a u-turn on Saturday and questioned benefits of the much-hyped move to common people. He also lashed out at  banks that allegedly helped rich and powerful manage their cash during ‘notebandi’.

Speaking at a meeting with bank officials in Patna, Nitish said,“I was supporter of demonetisation but how many people benefited from it? Some powerful people shifted their cash from one place to another.”

Notably, Kumar’s statement against the demonetisation move came on a day when the party was celebrating completion of four years of Modi government at the Centre. It is first time that Bihar CM who is also president of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) — a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally, has questioned the demonetisation move of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

In 2016, Kumar, then part of a Grand Alliance of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, had supported demonetisation, while RJD chief Lalu Prasad had opposed the move.

Dismissing Nitish Kumar’s statement, senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Nitish Kumar has been a supporter of demonetisation.”