Published: Friday, Jul 2, 2010, 19:37 IST | Updated: Friday, Jul 2, 2010, 23:22 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_divided-oppostion-gives-united-call-for-july-5-bandh_1404404
NDA does not see eye-to-eye with the Left, AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa, Telugu Desam’s Chandrababu Naidu and Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD’s) Naveen Patnaik do not want any deal with BJP, Lalu Prasad is unwilling to join hands with JD(U) in Bihar and BSP’s Mayawati does not want to be seen with Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh in Uttar Pradesh (UP). But the Manmohan Singh government’s “market-driven economic policies” have united them all.
More than a dozen leading parties, including the ruling BJD in Orissa and the Left in West Bengal and Kerala, apart from NDA, have called an all-India strike on the same day, July 5, to protest the fuel price hike.
Lalu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Mayawati have called separate bandhs in Bihar and UP on July 10 and 15.
There was no joint meeting of the opposition and there will be no convener of this protest. Parties will mount pressure in their areas of influence and may finally move a cut motion in parliament during the monsoon session beginning July 26.
The message is clear, the days of honeymoon are over for the Manmohan Singh government.
The initiative for a nation-wide bandh was taken by JD(U) president Sharad Yadav. He was the first to phone CPM general secretary Prakash Karat to discuss the issue.
Karat gave consent, but BJP developed cold feet. It wanted a different bandh date, but fell in line after others threatened to walk out. Sharad Yadav told DNA no meeting was needed to forge unity.
“People are forcing leaders to rise in protest. It’s an upsurge against market forces,” he said.
Sensing danger, the government may give the farming community and the poor in metros some relief in terms of diesel.
