Anti-US protest plan is on: Left leaders

NEW DELHI - Left party leaders Sunday said their plans were on to hold country-wide protests Monday while US President Barack Obama is in New Delhi, but declined to give details.

Basudeb Acharia, leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) parliamentary party, told IANS that the Left parties have called for protests all over the country to demand the “extradition of Warren Anderson (the former chief of Union Carbide) and to protest against American attempts to enter the agricultural and retail sectors in India”.

“The protests will be held in various centres, including New Delhi,” he said, without giving any details.

CPI-M sources said that there may be small protests at some centres in New Delhi as were held in Mumbai Saturday.

Communist Party of India (CPI) deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy told IANS: “The Left parties - the CPI-M, the CPI, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc - had jointly decided on the protest. It will be held.”

Delhi Police have banned public protests near parliament, where Obama will be addressing MPs Monday.