MP: Bandh called by Cong over fuel price hike evokes mixed response

The half-day shutdown called bythe Congress in Madhya Pradesh against fuel and LPG pricehikes got a mixed response on Saturday.

Most shops in Bhopal and other major cities, includingcommercial capital Indore, remained open, though the mainthoroughfare in Bhopal wore a deserted look during theduration of the bandh.

Some petrol pumps remained shut in Bhopal but theywere asked to start operations by police, some pump ownersclaimed.

As many as 39 protesters, including former MP ministerP C Sharma, were detained from three different places inBhopal during the bandh period, said a police official.

Talking to PTI, Sharma said, ''I was detained from nearbus stop number 6 with other Congressmen when we wererequesting shop owners to get the shutters down.'' Protesters also entered the Katni railway station andstood in front of a stationary train but were chased away bypolice, he said.

In Ujjain's Piplaninaka area, BJP and Congressworkers came face to face but police dispersed them.

While MP Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta saidthe bandh got a good response despite the BJP governmenttrying to forcibly keep shops open, BJP spokesperson DeepakVijayvargiya said the shutdown was a complete failure.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath had on Friday urgedthe people to join in the bandh to ''wake up the governmentover the soaring prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas''.

Meanwhile, MP Petrol Pump Owners' Associationsecretary Nakul Sharma said that additive-mixed petrol of aleading oil marketing company is selling at Rs 102.26 perlitre, while regular petrol is being sold at Rs 98.58 anddiesel at Rs 89.21 per liter in Bhopal.