New Delhi, Jun 26 (IANS): Opposition parties Saturday held nationwide protests against the fuel price hike, saying government was not concerned about the sufferings of the common man.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties separately staged demonstrations in the national capital and in different states against the government's decision Friday to increase the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.
Senior BJP leader V.K. Malhotra and the party's Delhi unit chief Vijender Gupta led the protest at the busy ITO junction.
Addressing protesting party workers after blocking traffic, Gupta said the Congress-led central government was not concerned about the sufferings of the common man.
"Fuel hike is a result of the corrupt practices of the Congress-led government," Gupta said, alleging that the government was hand-in-gloves with big corporates.
The BJP also protested in all the districts of Delhi.
In Uttar Pradesh, top BJP leaders were detained in Lucknow for staging a demonstration against the hike in fuel prices.
Led by party veteran and Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon, state BJP chief Surya Pratap Shahi and senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Kalraj Mishra, the demonstrators had barely stepped out of Shaheed Smarak (Martyrs Memorial) to march down to the state assembly, when they were intercepted by police.
They were arrested when they tried to defy the curbs on protests.
The Left parties organised a demonstration in Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding a roll-back in the fuel price hike.
Normal life was badly hit in the Left-ruled states of West Bengal and Kerala as buses, taxis and autorickshaws went off the roads as part of the protests.
In West Bengal, the strike was called by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
A shutdown called by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala saw most shops and offices closed and public transport off the roads.
An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday said price of the petrol "will be market determined both at the refinery gate and retail level".
As a result, petrol will now be costlier by Rs.3.5 a litre.
Simultaneously, the government hiked the prices of diesel by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene -- known as the poor man's fuel and traditionally spared during periodic fuel price hikes -- by Rs.3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.