Price rise: Left to stage sit-in inside Parliament price rise

The Left Parties will stage a sit-in inside Parliament House on Thursday to protest the government's "failure" to contain rising prices of essential commodities.

As Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar rejected opposition's demand for holding a discussion on price rise under rules which entail voting, the Left parties decided to "carry on our struggle" by holding a dharna inside the Parliament precincts, CPI National Secretary D Raja said.

Both Raja and CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia said they will hold the sit-in inside Parliament precincts as "we do not want to hold up the proceedings of the House."

 Raja said, "We don't agree with the Speaker's ruling. The government should accept its lapses and failures (in checking the rising prices) and come forward with adequate steps to control prices".

About the dharna, he said, "We do not want to hold up the proceedings because we have several important issues to raise."

Acharia said leaders of CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc would sit together soon to decide on their future course of action on how to take on the government on various issues.