Efforts on to present united opposition to fuel price hike

NEW DELHI: With the Manmohan Singh government making it clear that there'll be no rollback in fuel prices, which saw a steep hike on Friday, efforts

are on to marshal the resources of the combined Opposition and call a Bharat Bandh to tap popular disaffection over the issue.



Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav, who's also the convenor of the NDA, has initiated efforts to rally the entire Opposition together so as to make the bandh call a success. Even though the date for the countrywide protests has not been finalised yet, it is likely that it'll be held in the first week of July.



Given the reluctance of ideologically-opposed parties such as BJP and the Left to be seen in each other's company, on a common platform, it's likely that parties ranged against the Congress-led UPA would offer their support to the bandh call, without coming together formally.



Mr Sharad Yadav, it is learnt, has already broached the issue with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and INLD boss Om Prakash Chautala, and is said to have succeeded in enlisting their support to the cause.



The JD(U) leader is also expected to hold discussions with AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik to secure their backing to the bandh call.



A similar exercise was kicked off by Mr Sharad Yadav during the budget session of Parliament. Soon after finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the general budget, announced a hike in the prices of petrol and diesel, the JD(U) leader had led the entire Opposition in staging a walkout from the Lok Sabha in protest against the move.



Efforts were even then initiated to organise a Bharat Bandh jointly, but the endeavour came unstuck after government managers succeeded in breaking the opposition unity by luring Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav away.



BJP eventually held massive rally on its own in the Capital on April 23, while the Left parties too held a separate protest.



Doubts about the prospects of the entire Opposition closing ranks on the latest round of fuel price hike continue to lurk even now, and the Samajwadi Party and the RJD are once again being seen as "vulnerable'' parties.



The Left parties, it is learnt, have assured Mr Sharad Yadav of getting the Samajwadi Party on board. Mr Karat too is said to have spoken to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. The latter, in turn, has offered to speak to the other Yadav chieftain —Lalu Prasad.



"The UPA government has not only increased fuel prices, but has also decided to hand over the country to the market. The government is under a false impression that the opposition is divided and hence, it can do whatever it likes,'' Mr Sharad Yadav had said while speaking to newspersons here on Saturday.



"I request all opposition parties to come together to organise a nation-wide bandh and corner the government in Lok Sabha,'' the JD(U) leader said.
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