Bharat gives mixed response to bandh

The nationwide bandh called by the BJP-led NDA and Left parties against the recent petrol price hike evoked mixed response on Thursday amid incidents of stone throwing, arson and road blockades in Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

The nationwide bandh called by the BJP-led NDA and Left parties against the recent petrol price hike evoked mixed response on Thursday amid incidents of stone throwing, arson and road blockades in Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

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Maharashtra
MUMBAI: At least 60 municipal buses were damaged and two drivers injured in stone throwing by bandh supporters across the city. Local train services, however, remained unaffected.
Elsewhere in Maharashtra, bandh supporters damaged buses in Pune, Nagpur and Thane. Terming the bandh a "huge and unprecedented success", BJP chief Nitin Gadkari said the message to Congress was, "If you don’t roll back the hike, we will roll you back".

West Bengal
KOLKATA: Rail and road blockades were reported from parts of the state during the bandh, which evoked mixed response in the capital.
Trains were stopped at stations in the Sealdah and Howrah divisions. Metro services, however, were not affected.
CM Mamata Banerjee said, "BJP, backed by CPM cadre, was behind all the trouble on the road. They have damaged valuable government property."

Karnataka
BANGALORE: Normal life was disrupted in BJP-ruled Karnataka as bandh supporters set three buses on fire and damaged about a dozen more in the capital, forcing authorities to withdraw bus service in the city.
Train services and flights, however, functioned normally though the number of passengers was about 50% less than a normal working day. Leading IT firms in Bangalore remained shut. The coastal and northern districts saw complete shutdown.

In other states
The bandh evoked little response in Tamil Nadu and Congress-ruled Haryana. In Bihar, JD-U chief Sharad Yadav and BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain were among 800 activists taken into custody while enforcing the bandh.

Normal life was affected in Punjab. Commercial establishments in several districts, including Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, remained closed.

In Rajasthan, markets remained closed in major cities and private buses stayed off the roads.