Lalu Yadav calls for Bihar shutdown on Jan 28 against price rise - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday called for a shutdown in eastern Bihar against price rise on January 28. He blamed both Congress-led central and state government of Bihar for rise in food prices. The RJD chief said he would take help from all like-minded secular parties to make the shutdown on January 28 successful. "We will contact all the secular and like-minded parties, who are not part of the government, because the government is not taking any step, be it Congress or any other party. So, the issue of rising prices would be made a nation-wide agitation," he added. The food price index rose by 19.83 percent in the 12 months as on December 19, with food prices surging after the weakest monsoon in 37 years. That was higher than an annual rise of 18.65 percent a week earlier, and just below an annual 19.95 percent rise on December 02. The worst monsoon since 1972 and flooding in some parts of the country have pushed up food inflation.