Bandh complete in Kurnool

Kurnool: In response to the nation-wide call given by Congress, activists of TD, CPM, CPI and Jana Sena participated in the bandh in Kurnool and other places in the district on Monday. It may be recalled that the Congress gave a call for Bharat Bandh to protest against constant hike in petrol and diesel prices. However, the YSRCP cadre did not taken part in the bandh.

The CPM and CPI party leaders and activists came on to the roads and disrupted the vehicular traffic. Though the RTC authorities, as a precautionary measure, have confined the buses to depots at 12 places, the CPM and CPI activities staged a protest in front of the bus depots. As there are no RTC buses, passengers faced inconvenience to reach their destinations. 

Agitators did not allow autos to ply on the roads. All the approaching roads to the city were blocked by the activists of Left parties. Schools, colleges, commercial establishments and banks (except emergency services) have downed their shutters. The petrol pumps were remained closed.

The CPM central committee member and former MLA MA Gafoor blamed the central government for constant hike in petrol and diesel prices. Pointing out the earlier collection in 2014, Gafoor said that the UPA government in 2014 has collected Rs 88,000 crore but now the present government is collecting Rs 2.55 lakh crore as taxes on the fuels, he alleged.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, accompanied by Byreddy Rajasekhar Reddy and other party activists, took out a huge rally in the old city.

Kotla said that despite decline in crude oil rates at international market, the BJP-led NDA government is imposing heavy burden on the common man. Rajasekhar Reddy demanded the union government to reduce the hike in fuel prices. The TDP activists burnt the effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in front of its party office in the city and demanded the NDA government to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel.