Normal life is likely to be disrupted by the bandh, but emergency services, such as milk, water and hospitals, will not be affected.
Throwing a virtual challenge to the Left and BJP, who have called a 12-hour Bharat Bandh on Monday to protest the fuel price hike, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee made it clear on Sunday the Centre would not succumb to pressure.
“The question of rollback [of the fuel price hike] doesn’t arise,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Bengal Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Sunday.
CPI(M) has alleged that by allowing the fuel price hike, Sonia Gandhi diluted the rich legacy of Congress established by her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
It was on Indira’s initiative that oil companies were nationalised so that the government could control fuel prices.
“Now, her [Indira’s] daughter-in-law [Sonia] is reversing the decision. I am amazed how senior Congress leaders who were part of the Congress legacy are accepting this,” a senior CPI(M) central committee member said.
The pressure on Congress has further increased with Trinamool chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee instructing party workers not to actively oppose the bandh on Monday.
There are instructions from Mamata that no Trinamool leader should protest the bandh, a senior party leader told DNA. “We admit it will not change the decision of fuel price hike, but we are not against the bandh. Trinamool also feels the fuel price hike will have an adverse impact on the poor. Decontrol of petrol price is fine, but prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene should not be left to the whims of the market,” he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}