During a meeting of party coordinators, Mayawati said that as the UPA government has decided to permit FDI in retail market by overlooking the interests of the country, therefore the BSP has decided to support the tomorrow`s bandh. She alleged that lakhs of small traders and factory owners would be forced to close shops after the entry of foreign companies in the retail sector, a party release said.
Condition of crores of farmers, who are already committing suicide due to poverty, would worsen further, Mayawati alleged. The Uttar Pradesh CM said she had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding roll back of the decision immediately, it said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party said its workers will observe a bandh tomorrow and hold demonstrations across the state tomorrow. Senior Samajwadi leader Shivpal Singh Yadav alleged that allowing FDI was a conspiracy to destroy the domestic market.
"While multi-national companies will give employment to a handful of people, crores of people will be left unemployed...," he alleged. Similarly, BJP also announced its support to the FDI bandh call. "All the party workers have been asked to make tomorrow`s bandh a success in the state," party spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.