Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar arrive for Assembly Session in bullock cart

Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah, state PCC president DK Shivakumar and some Congress leaders on Monday arrived at Vidhana Soudha in a bullock cart, to attend the monsoon session of the state legislature, in protest against the rise in prices of essential commodities and fuel.

Faced by the bullock cart protest on the first day of his government's first session after assuming office, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai hit back at the Congress party, accusing it of doing nothing on the issue of price rise, especially fuel prices, when the UPA was in power.

"They should have done it (protest) when the UPA government was in power. Fuel prices went up 100 per cent when the UPA was in power. If they had protested when the UPA government was there, it would have meant something. I'm sure they will raise it in the Assembly, I will answer there," Bommai said in response to a question on the protest.

Earlier in the day, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, accompanied by G Parameshwara, M B Patil, S R Patil, Eshwar Khandre and other Congress legislators rode a bullock cart to Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here from their residence. Accusing the central government of simply lying and cheating people, Siddaramaiah said life has become difficult with prices of essential items going up, and the Congress will continue its protest against the state and Centre on the issue, both inside and outside the assembly.