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Bharat Bandh: Rahul Gandhi Slams Modi Govt Over Rising Fuel Prices As BJP Claims The Call For Strike Was A Fail

A gas cylinder that used to cost Rs 400 is now Rs 800, said Rahul Gandhi during a dharna at the Rajghat.
Bharat bandh: Congress president Rahul Gandhi took lead in criticising the BJP government at the Centre over rising prices of fuel.
Twitter/@INCIndia
Bharat bandh: Congress president Rahul Gandhi took lead in criticising the BJP government at the Centre over rising prices of fuel.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the Narendra Modi government on Monday as he protested against the rising fuel prices in the country along with other Opposition parties.

Addressing the gathering of Opposition party leaders at Rajghat, Gandhi said, "The entire Opposition is here. We will together remove the BJP from power."

However, the ruling BJP has dismissed the call for strike saying no one had paid attention to the call by the Congress for a bandh.

NCP leader Sharad Pawar, who was present at the strike, said on Twitter:

Visuals of protests were seen across India as several other Opposition parties have joined the Congress to support the bandh.

Rahul Gandhi reached Rajghat early on Monday to begin the protest with other Opposition parties.

ANI tweeted photos of protest from Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, while reports said that transport services in Mumbai will remain unaffected by the bandh.

Security has been stepped up in different parts of the country. Dr Venkatesham K, the commissioner of police of Pune city, said that miscreants would not be spared and that extra police force had been deployed across the city.

There were also reports of protesters stopping buses and cars, and burning tires. ANI reported that in Patna members of the Jan Adhikar Party Loktantrik blocked railway tracks in Patna's Rajendra Nagar Terminal railway station.

The Bharat Bandh was called by the Congress to protest against the sky rocketing fuel prices in the country.

"We demand that petrol and diesel be brought under the ambit of the GST. High prices of petrol and diesel found no mention in the BJP's national executive meeting because they are not bothered about the pain of public," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had said earlier.

While Sharad Pawar and other left leaders extended their support to the bandh, TMC and Shiv Sena Sena decided to stay away from the bandh.

Schools remained shut in Bengaluru, but functioned normally in other parts of Karnataka. Schools remained open in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

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