Can confirm . Just got back from my friend ' s apartment . He owns a four month old kitten . I don ' t think my hands , arms , or feet will ever be the same again . <| sep |># Anger over cash crunch Worried Gujarat BJP reaches out to peopledemonetisation 480 . jpg ? w 480 A Congress protest outside BJP chief Amit Shah ' s office in Ahmedabad on Thursday . Source Javed Raja A Congress protest outside BJP chief Amit Shah ' s office in Ahmedabad on Thursday . Source Javed RajaThe BJP in Gujarat appears to be worried over increasing public disquiet following the demonetisation move , with the party holding a series of meetings since last Friday to find ways to tackle the problem . In one such meeting on Monday with senior leaders and MLAs , Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had sounded a sense of urgency to deal with the impact of cash crunch . He had spoken about how the party was not afraid of situations , but found solutions , and that the BJP was not a party of despair but of systems . Party leaders are worried that shortage of cash may dwarf a slew of populist decisions taken by the Rupani government to win back a number of disgruntled sections before the Assembly elections in December 2017 . The BJP , which had suffered debacle in the rural areas in the local body elections last November due to the Patidar quota agitation , had managed to gain some ground , before it was again hit by the Dalit protest following the Una flogging incident in July this year . Watch What Else Is making NewsBJP ' s Gujarat unit feels that the demonetisation announcement , coming no sooner than the party had begun chestthumping over the surgical strikes along the LoC , has put the party in a damage control mode , with billboards defending the decision as the promised fight against black money replacing congratulatory billboards on the surgical strikes . A BJP MLA who attended the Monday meeting suggested that the party ' s state unit was in panic after the demonetisation move , and that Rupani underlined the necessity to reach out to people to help them tackle various issues , including the hardship due to demonetisation . We have been told to reach out directly to people , and try solve their daily issues . Due to demonetisation , farmers and vegetable growers are facing problems we have been told to meet them and try to understand and represent their issues with top BJP leaders in Gandhinagar , so that possible solutions could be found . We have also been told to create awareness about different schemes of the state government , said the MLA from south Gujarat . A senior BJP leader said , Top leaders of the party have realised that this demonetisation step has been taken at a wrong time . The party had decided to use the surgical strikes along the LoC as a major winner for the upcoming Assembly poll campaign , but with people facing a major cash crunch , most leaders are left tonguetied when asked about it . MPs and MLAs have raised the issue of sudden demonetisation with the top leadership , asking what they should tell the angry citizens . While PM Modi has asked for 50 days to normalise the situation , people will lose patience when they run out of cash . No matter the good work undertaken by the government , when a person is in need of money , he will not understand any policy matter . Several groups within the party are miffed as it has directly affected their own businesses and cooperatives that they run . The chief minister is trying to pacify the groups within the party that are threatening to drift away . Another senior leader said that the CM ' s message in the party meeting on Monday was a way to strengthen the spirit of oneness among the people . Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani , however , said that Rupani ' s statement on Monday was not about demonetisation or its impact on people , but about all the issues facing people and their resolution through Seva Setu initiative , an outreach programme involving bureaucrats that Rupani launched recently . People are very happy with the demonetisation decision and they are welcoming it wholeheartedly since it is to fight the menace of black money and terrorism . And I don ' t think it is going to affect BJP ' s fortune in the 2017 elections we are going to win the elections , said Vaghani , suggesting that there was no sense of panic or urgency within the party . Notwithstanding Vaghani ' s arguement , BJP members in a bid to immediately counter any damage went to queues outside banks , distributing water pouches and posting photographs of their effort on the social media . Vaghani , however , said the instructions to help those in the queues were only for the initial week and now the state administration has taken control of the situation and things have streamlined . Our party workers are still going to help people in their respective areas . But now , they don ' t go wearing the party scarf , so you would not realise that , Vaghani said . Even before the palpable public anger over demonetisation , the party had its hands full , tackling the Patidar and the Dalit protests , besides various tribal and other issues . Unable to handle the situation , Anandiben Patel had stepped down in August , allowing Rupani to take over the reins and ensure BJP ' s victory in the 2017 polls . Rupani began announcing a series of decisions 125 in 100 days as per a release to help the party retain power even if such moves burdened the exchequer . Some decisions by the Rupani government Inducted 11 parliamentary secretaries in the government most in any Gujarat government reportedly to calm down voices of dissent among elected representatives of BJP . Toll exemption for small vehicles and buses of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation GSRTC on 12 state highways . This will lead to financial burden of Rs 150 crore on the government . SIT to further investigate the death of three Dalits during police firing in Thangadh in 2012 . Monthly allowance of Rs 500 for patients of sicklecell disease , prevalent among tribals . Rate of PNG for ceramic industry of Saurashtra slashed by Rs 2 . 07 , providing annual relief of Rs 150 crore to the industry . Cashless mediclaim assistance up to Rs 2 lakh to fixed wage employees . There are around 4 lakh fixed wage employees in Gujarat under a controversial policy which is subjudice in the Supreme Court . Compensation of Rs 1 . 5 lakh for unregistered construction workers in case of their death on site in accident . Widow pension increased from Rs 750 to Rs 1 , 000 per month . Annual financial burden of Rs 20 crore on the exchequer . Exclusion of around 100 villages from respective area development authorities for urban development in Saurashtra and south Gujarat , following protests by villagers . 14 . 88 lakh poor families given assistance to the tune of Rs 3 , 862 crore under the 9 th edition of Garib Kalyan Mela . Under Seva Setu initiative , 72 , 157 out of total 79 , 736 applications from 1 , 303 villages of 124 talukas cleared . Seva Setu is the initiative where government officials visit a particular cluster of villages and resolve public issues . Facing water scarcity and lackluster rain , power supply for farmers increased from 8 hours to 10 hours . The government decided to buy groundnut from farmers at minimum support price MSP after bumper crop this year . Automatic conversion of more than 15 yearold new tenure land into old tenure land by December 2016 . INPUTS FROM KAMAAL SAIYED Version 0 . 5 b Function I post the article ' s text as a comment if the website is adblocker unfriendly . I accept commands ! Powered by