Lucknow, May 31 (IANS) The shutdown call against the petrol price hike, supported by the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP), disrupted life in all cities and towns of Uttar Pradesh Thursday.
Samajwadi Party workers squatted on railway tracks at many places and stopped trains. They also blocked the New Delhi-Howrah railway route.
Leftist trade unions and traders’ wings of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the SP took part in the strike, following which busy routes in Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad and Lucknow were shut till afternoon.
BJP workers held a sit-in in front of the state assembly in Lucknow and burnt an effigy of the central government.
SP workers wearing their trademark red caps blocked train movement at Allahabad railway station.
Saket Express and Ganga-Gomti Express were stopped in Allahabad. SP workers also targetted the Sultanpur Express at Varanasi.
BJP state president Laxmi Kant Bajpayi said the strike was successful.
The party’s workers moved on bullock carts around Aligarh, Mathura, Hardoi and Sitapur.
However, no untoward incident was reported during the shutdown, police said.
