By IANS,
Kolkata: West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Monday said the 12-hour shutdown called against the fuel price hike was successful and the people of the state had supported the strike.
“The shutdown in the state has been successful. People have supported this shutdown to protest against the government decision against the fuel price hike,” Biman Bose, chairman, West Bengal Left Front.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front had separately called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the fuel price hike.
“Currently the food prices are sky high and this increase in the price of fuels will further increase prices. The policies of the central government are taking heavy toll on common man,” Bose told reporters.
The opposition parties of West Bengal slammed the nationwide shutdown call by the BJP and the Left Front and alleged that the political nexus between the two has been exposed.
“The common man has not supported this shutdown. The cadres of CPI-M and the BJP are so shameless that they used strong arm tactics in many places to implement the shutdown. But at the same time we are happy that this political nexus of the BJP and the CPI-M has been exposed,” Manas Bhuinya, president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, said.
Last week, the central government hiked the price of diesel by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder. Petrol is now costlier by Rs.3.50 per litre.