MUMBAI: A sizeable section of the BJP is worried that Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's latest decision to demonetise Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes would adversely affect the party in the 2017 BMC elections.Chaos prevailing in the city over the last two days may alienate Mumbaikars from the party in the run-up to the crucial civic polls, sources said on Thursday.Many in the BJP are of the view that the PM ought to have carried out the demonetisation decision in a phased manner, offering a decent time limit to citizens to work out their priorities.TV grabs showing harried Mumbaikars running from pillar to post to provide for daily expenditures will make a dent in the party's popularity with voters, prophesied a BJP MLA worriedly on Thursday. "We live in a media-motored age and images linger on for too long in public consciousness," he said. "There has been utter confusion in Mumbai after the Prime Minister announced the scrapping of the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. Mumbaikars have been put to great inconvenience. There have been serpentine queues outside banks to get new currency notes and to deposit old notes. This may gravely affect the BJP in the BMC polls ."Instead of appreciating the positive aspect of the PM's decision, Mumbaikars may soon get weighed down by the inconvenience caused to them because of demonetisation, he said."It is true that the general mood of Mumbaikars is upbeat. Common citizens think that demonetising will vastly help weed out corruption and curb black money. But the flip side of the PM's decision-difficulties which people have to face in their day-to-day life-far outweigh the positive side of the historic decision. If chaos continues to prevail, Mumbaikars may become bitter and this would affect the BJP's poll prospects," he said."The man on the street-vegetable vendors, vada-paavwallas and those eking out meagre existence-will have to face greater hardship. The middle-class too will have to bear the brunt of the PM's decision in the weeks to come," said a senior BJP functionary.Sources in the city BJP said Mumbai's mercantile community, which has for decades been the BJP's coveted constituency, is already peeved with the Centre for imposing draconian rules to weed out corruption. "The builder-developer lobby has for long been down and out, while gold merchants and manufacturers held a month-long strike early this year to protest the 1% custom duty. To add to their woes comes the latest decision to demonetise notes. The PM should have done it in a phased manner," said a party veteran.Meanwhile, Saamna, in an uncharacteristically wishy-washy editorial on Thursday, said only time will tell if Modi's decision will actually help curb black money and end corruption. The Shiv Sena mouthpiece said corruption is a state of mind which needs to be uprooted once and for all.