Bengaluru, Sep 13 (TIWN) The Monsoon Session got off to a stormy start in Karnataka on Monday with the opposition Congress leaders arriving on bullock carts to the Vidhana Soudha to highlight the issue of rising prices. Former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa attended the session, but sat in the last row.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D.K. Shivakumar reached the Vidhana Soudha on bullock carts with their supporters to register their protest against the rising prices of fuel and daily commodities.  Traffic was thrown out of gear as hundreds of supporters and many legislators took part in the bullock cart procession. 

"The BJP government is indulging in pickpocketing the common man. This is a pickpocket government. We can't sit quiet. We will invent new ways of protests until the prices of essential commodities are brought down," Shivakumar said.  "No government in history has allowed inflation like the ruling BJP. The fuel rate here is higher than Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. India has become the nation levying maximum tax on fuel. Former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had equated the price hike to 'criminal loot'. The ruling BJP is indulging in this," he charged.