Left parties protest price rise

Organise nationwide jail bharo agitation in front of govt offices

In what looks like the first step towards a grand alliance, the Left parties on Thursday had organised a nationwide jail bharo (Court arrest) agitation in front of the Central government offices against price rise.

They are also said to be moving ahead  in forming a wider opposition front to lead the price rise agitation, aiming to create  a non-BJP alternative to the Congress.

The Left parties, who have been speaking of a grand Communist-Socialist alliance for some time now, seem to have found the perfect common ground in the issue of price rise.
Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam, Bahujan Samaj Party are amongst the political outfits the Left is trying to lure into the alliance.

Left leaders are also said to be working on organising a meeting of non-BJP opposition leaders early next week.

Though the left was quick to spot  the price rise issue, possibility of a wider opposition seem to have emerged after the solidarity the parties had shown in the Parliament in confronting the issue.

The enthused Left hurriedly planned the jail bharo agitation during a rally on March 12 to consolidate the opposition, allowing the constituent parties to organise the agitation in different parts of the country.

In Delhi, all the top left functionaries-Prakash Karat (CPM), A B Bardhan (CPI), Devbrat Vishwas (the Forward Block) and Abani Roy(RSP)-courted arrest.

The non-BJP opposition front against price rise would most likely expand the list of common ground issues with universal public distribution system and unemployment.