UP: Mixed response to VHP-sponsored bandh

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Vishwa Hindu Parishad-sponsored statewide bandh to protest the serial blasts in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow evoked a mixed response on Saturday with no reports of violence so far.

While the shutdown was total in Varanasi, Kanpur and Faizabad where shops and business establishment remained closed, in Ayodhya, shops were open owing to the ongoing Kartik Purnima mela with lakhs of devotees taking a dip in the holy Saryu River.

In state capital Lucknow, shops and business set ups were open in some parts of the city. Public transport in the city was normal though schools and colleges were closed on account of Guru Purnima.

There was no report of any untoward incident from any part of the state so far, a police spokesman said, adding that security was beefed up at all sensitive places.

A report from Meerut said that local BJP legislator Satya Prakash Agarwal had an altercation with the traders when he tried to enforce the bandh.

In Jalaun, Bhartiya Kisan Union workers blocked traffic on the road at some places, the reports said.

Joining the bandh, workers of Samajwadi Party's youth wing Yuvjan Sabha squatted on railway tracks near Prayag in Allahabad but were dispersed by the security personnel.

Fifteen people were killed and over 80 others injured in near-simultaneous blasts that rocked courts in the three cities.