BJP, Left leaders come together to protest govt decisions

Left and the Right were on the same page on Thursday with its leaders sharing stage to protest the UPA Government's decision to allow FDI in retail and hike in diesel price with both alleging that these were taken to "please" US President Barack Obama and other western nations.

While Left leaders AB Bardhan and Sitaram Yechury shared the stage with BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi and Nitin Gadkari at a protest organised by traders, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu kept away from it but appeared at a Left protest rally and courted arrest along with others.

Yadav attacked the Government for its "anti-poor" policies and claimed farmers were the "worst-affected lot" due to hike in diesel price.

Yadav, Naidu, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, Bardhan, CPI MP D Raja and other leaders courted arrest at the Parliament Street police station but were released later.

Karat demanded that the Government withdraw all its decisions and sought Yadav's support in "keeping alive" this movement both inside and outside Parliament.

Yards away, Bardhan, Yechury, Joshi, Gadkari and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav tore into the Government's economic policies calling them "anti-people and anti-national" while attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for being hell-bent on "pleasing his friend" Obama.

Bardhan said ideologies of Left and BJP might be different, but they "are one" when it came to fighting for the people and even complimented Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee for deciding to pull out her ministers from the Union Cabinet.

While Bardhan said Singh was trying to "please" Obama, Joshi was more vocal in his criticism when he alleged that the Congress was trying to make traders and people "slaves" of US and other western countries.