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Activist killed as strike turned violent in Bihar

PATNA: Police shot dead one political activist and fought running battles with hundreds of others across India's eastern Bihar state on Sunday as a dawn-to-dusk strike turned violent, police and local news agencies said.

Police opened fire on unruly protesters in the northcentral district of Vaishali, killing a supporter of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, United News of India (UNI) reported. Vaishali is near the state capital Patna.

Elsewhere in the state, police used batons to disperse angry RJD supporters, who had called the strike to protest against the state governor's decision to ask the rival National Democratic Alliance to form a government, the United News of India (UNI) said.

Many former RJD ministers were injured in the clashes, UNI said.

More than 400 people were reported detained, including RJD leader Laloo Yadav, the Press Trust of India said. "If the governor has any sense of shame, he should pack and leave," Yadav yelled shortly before police took him away.

"The people across the state are shocked and deeply hurt. They are angry and therefore hitting the streets on their own against the undemocratic things happening here," he said.

The activists attacked trains, uprooted railway tracks and ransacked railway cabins in parts of the state, police and witnesses said.

Four railway security personnel and four passengers were rushed to hospital for treatment for burns.

"Train movement in this section is badly disrupted and all trains are being diverted to other routes," said S.P. Vatsa, divisional railway manager.

Bus operators cancelled services as a precautionary measure.

No party emerged as a clear winner in last month's regional elections in the Hindi heartland state, India's poorest and second most populous state.

The NDA, which holds power in the centre, won 122 seats in the 324-member state assembly while the RJD bagged 124, both well below the minimum of 162 seats needed to rule.

NDA leaders say they had the required numbers to form a government. The RJD says it had the support of India's main Congress party, which won 23 seats in the state elections.-Reuters