Rajnath urges NDA partners to support June 7 Rasta Roko

Bhubaneswar, June 6 (UNI) BJP President Rajnath Singh today urged all NDA partners in the country to join the party's ''Rasta Roko agitation'' on June 7 to protest the hike in petrol and diesel prices by the UPA government.

Mr Singh told newspersons that the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel was a ''betrayal'' of the masses as the UPA government had assured the country that the prices would not be hiked.

He said during the last two year tenure of the UPA government the prices of petrol and diesel had been hiked five times.

The BJP President said the party would organise a countrywide 'Rasta Roko' on June 7 between 1100 hours and 1300 hours and appealed to party workers not to create any problem for the school children or ambulance services.

On whether the NDA partners would also join the agitation, Mr.Singh said he had directed the state BJP unit to coordinate with the NDA partners in their respective state units on the issue.

He claimed that the price of the petrol has been hiked by 45 per cent while that of diesel by 49 per cent during the two years tenure of the UPA government which was also marred by fluctuation on inflation and price rise of essential commodities.

Mr Singh said the share market was shut down thrice during the two years rule of the UPA government, a phenomenon never witnessed in the history of the country.

He said when the Sensex totally crashed and the small investors suffered heavy losses, the Union Finance Minister described it as a ''manufactured crisis''.

The BJP President asked the Prime Minister to find out who was responsible for ''manufactured crisis'' and tale suitable action against them.

He said the price rise has exposed the actual character of the Congress and the double character of the left parties, who were shedding ''crocodile tears''. The left parties, he said should now come out with clear stand on the issue.

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