Left leaders court arrest,stage demo against price rise

Demanding immediate steps to curb price rise,Left parties staged demonstrations across the country.

Demanding immediate steps to curb price rise,the four Left parties on Thursday staged demonstrations across the country during which chiefs of CPI-M and CPI Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan courted arrest.

Senior CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said the Left along with other like-minded parties will try and block the passage f the Union budget in Parliament if urgent steps were not aken to control spiralling prices. “In that case the overnment may even fall,” Yechury warned,as he courted rrest in Thane,near Mumbai.

Tens of thousands of slogan-shouting activists carrying arty flags took to the streets and organised mass picketing ncluding in the Capital as part of a nation-wide ‘jail bharo’ gitation to protest the government’s “failure” to check ising prices of essential commodities

Besides Karat and Bardhan,D Raja (CPI) and Abani Roy RSP) were among those who courted arrest after a massive emonstration by the Left parties in New Delhi. PI-M Politburo member Sitaram Yechury courted arrest n Thane,near Mumbai,while his colleague Brinda Karat was eld in Patna.

Functioning of some central government offices were ffected in the Left-ruled states of West Bengal,Kerala and ripura since the demonstrators squatted in front of the remises.

In New Delhi,a group of activists tried to enter the arliament Street Police Station and police had to use water annons to disperse them. houting slogans against the government,the activists athered at Jantar Mantar this morning.

CPI(M) had earlier announced that it plans to mobilize round 25 lakh people across the country for the ‘jail bharo’ agitation against price rise. In Kerala,LDF activists staged demonstrations before Central Government offices. Agitators squatted in front of select BSNL and Post Offices in Thiruvananthapuram and raised slogans against the ‘wrong economic policies’ of the UPA Governemnt.

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As the demonstrations started in the morning,the functioning of these offices were affected,police said. “The rise in petroleum prices has had a cascading effect on inflation. The government must roll back the fuel price hike to control inflation and price rise,which hits the common man most,” Yechury demanded addressing Left supporters in Dahanu in Thane district.

In Patna,CPI-M leaders Brinda Karat and Atul Kumar Anjan were arrested for blocking roads. Karat and Anjan were leading a procession which blocked the busy Dak bungalow roundabout here creating serious traffic problems,police said. They were arrested and taken to a camp jail at Gardanibagh.