BJP plans anti-government protest November 21

The BJP Thursday announced a nationwide protest November 21, a day ahead of the start of parliament's winter session, against the UPA government on "price rise, corruption, scams, and FDI in retail".

Party president Nitin Gadkari would take part in the agitation in Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said protests will be held across all districts of the country.

He said the party's protest will also highlight the government's decision to put a cap on subsidised cooking gas cylinders sold to a family a year, allegations against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in coal blocks allocations, and charges against a member of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's family.

Naqvi said the "attack" by the Congress on constitutional authorities would also be highlighted in the protest.

While prominent BJP leaders will be leading the party charge in major urban centres, Gadkari will be doing so in Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh.

Gadkari is facing a probe over allegations of financial dealings of a corporate group linked to him. The party has faced internal rift over demands for Gadkari's resignation but its core committee has given him a virtual clean chit following probe by financial analyst S. Gurumurthy, considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Asked about Gadkari going to Arunachal Pradesh, Naqvi said the party president had earlier expressed his wish to hold a rally in Itanagar.

"BJP has always felt a sense of responsibility towards the northeast. Rajnath Singh and M. Venkaiah Naidu have held rallies there in the past," Naqvi said.

Arun Jaitley will take part in the protest in Mumbai, Naidu (Hyderabad), Ananth Kumar (Lucknow), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Jaipur), Nirmala Sitharaman (Kolkata), Kalraj Mishra (Jaipur), J.P. Nadda (Raipur), Muril Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Naqvi, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Vijay Goel, Vijender Gupta (all Delhi), Balbir Punj (Amritsar), Narendra Singh Tomar (Agra), Prakash Javadekar (Patna), Shahnawaz Hussain (Goa), Dharmendra Pradhan (Noida) and Siddharth Nath Singh (Varanasi).

The winter session of parliament begins Nov 22. Naqvi said that UPA government's "numbers arithmetic" and "people arithmetic" had gone wrong but it was continuing its policies hitting the common man.