Opposition call for Bharat Bandh receives marginal to mix response in Gujarat

New Delhi: Bandh call given by opposition parties led by Congress over fuel price hike and other issues has received marginal to mix response in Gujarat.

Various Congress, NSUI, Youth Congress leaders, opposition MLAs and their supporters were out in their stronghold areas in the morning and around noon to request, and at some places to force traders to observe bandh. Police have detained several Congress leaders and workers who were out to enforce bandh. They include state Congress chief Amit Chavda and state part incharge Rajiv Satav. Leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani was seen joining hands before store owners requesting them to shut down.

Incidents of damages caused to public properties have also come to notice in the course of bandh call, mostly in the cases of public transport buses and related facilities. Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation(GSRTC) has withdrawn dozens of buses from service to prevent damages. Tyres were burnt at places to stop highway traffic.

Gujarat BJP leader IK Jadeja said Congress strike call has failed to evoke response. At some places, Congress leaders tried to enforce bandh, at some other places they burnt tyres to block highway for some minutes.

Opposition parties have called Bharat Bandh(nationwide strike) to protest against the BJP led NDA government in the Centre on Monday. Main opposition Congress party is protesting against fuel price hike, depreciating rupee. Congress party also seeks joint parliamentary committee(JPC) to probe into Rafale deal.

Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken on Sunday said that Centre kept on raising excise duty on fuel even as international crude oil prices have come down. Congress has demanded that petrol and diesel should be brought under GST.

According to Congress, 21 opposition parties are supporting the nationwide bandh. They include former PM HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular), Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HAM(S), Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), M K Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) among others.

BJP ally Shiv Sena which is partner in the government at Centre has denied Congress appeal to extend support to bandh call. Similarly one of opposition parties AAP has also not supported bandh call.

While the Congress has called for 6-hour bandh from 9am, the CPM-led Left Front has called a 12-hour bandh starting from 6am.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis slammed the opposition parties over the bandh call and said that NDA government reduced petrol prices as many as 13 times in its first three years.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan government has slashed VAT on petrol, diesel, thanks to which prices will come down by Rs 2.5 a litre.