Says Cong. did not consult them before announcing bandh

Miffed at the Congress’s lackadaisical approach in calling a joint Opposition protest, the six Left parties held a joint protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday.

Leaders of the CPI(M), the CPI, the RSP, the CPI(ML), Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) and the Communist Ghadar Party of India courted arrest and were detained at the Parliament Street police station.

According to sources the decision to hold a joint protest was taken on September 4 at rebel Janata Dal(U) leader Sharad Yadav’s residence. But on September 6, the Congress announced a bandh on its own last Thursday. According to sources, the Left parties were unhappy that the Congress did not hold detailed deliberations before making the announcement.

“We got a call inviting us to join the Bharat bandh just an hour or so before they made the announcement, leaving us with no time for inter-party and intra-party deliberations,” a senior Left leader said.

Sources said senior Congress leaders, including Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad, spoke to the Left leadership on Sunday night and on Monday morning, asking them to join the protest at Rajghat.

“These protests are happening because people are expressing their pure anger and disgust in the manner their livelihood is being destroyed by this government,” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

The AAP represented by Atishi Marlena joined the protest at Jantar Mantar.