Patna, Dec. 30: The Congress today nudged Nitish Kumar to join the anti-demonetisation brigade, a day after the chief minister delivered his most scathing jab at the Centre over management of the cash ban by mentioning the word jumla at a rally in Nalanda.

"We want Nitish Kumar strongly on our side on one platform," senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said in Patna on Friday. "His party has said it would review its stand on the issue after December 30."

Khurshid said the Congress was in talks with Nitish on the issue, but added that there was no time-frame.

"Political parties' policies towards demonetisation are still evolving. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu initially supported the move, but now he is not," Khurshid said, adding that even Nitish had talked about problems faced by common people because of the cash wash.

Nitish's open support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's move had caused heartburns in the Grand Alliance. The JDU skipped the call given by the Congress to attend a joint press conference against demonetisation, while the RJD joined it.

RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh criticised Nitish for supporting Modi. The JDU also skipped the dharna staged by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Even RJD chief Lalu Prasad, a bitter critic of demonetisation, has expressed hope that Nitish will join him.

The JDU has said it will review its stand on the issue after December 30, but has shown no urgency to reverse its position. Nitish has taken digs at the Union government for lack of preparation made before implementing demonetisation, but in the same breath supported the ordinance issued by the Union government making possession of banned notes punishable.

Nitish has said the Grand Alliance was for Bihar and every political party has the right to take an independent view of national issues.

Reacting to Khurshid's nudge today, JDU Rajya Sabha member Harivansh said: "Nitish ji has always taken a principled stand on national issues. Even on the (army's) surgical strike he maintained there should be no politics on issues related to national security. He has supported demonetisation from the beginning and also spoke on the need to overcome its shortcomings." He added: "We will, however, review the situation,"

Khursid alleged the autonomy of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been breached.

"The RBI has powers to demonetise a series of currency under the law. But on this occasion, the Union government is doing everything. Why has the government issued the ordinance? Under which law were the notes demonetised and under which law the Union government set a limit of Rs 24,000 per week withdrawal from a person's hard-earned savings?" he asked.

Khurshid repeated the questions asked by Rahul Gandhi on demonetisation and ridiculed Modi for "mocking" Rahul. "Modi ji sometimes forgets he is the Prime Minister and not a stand-up comedian," he said.