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The dawn-to-dusk statewide bandh called by the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar to press for resignation of the 'corrupt and ineffective' Rabri Devi government on Tuesday hit life, with shops and major business establishments remaining closed and traffic keeping off the roads.
More than 1000 bandh supporters were arrested all over the state, official sources said.
In Patna, bandh supporters were on streets deflating tyres and smashing windscreens of the few vehicles on roads, but no major violence was reported.
While private bus operators suspended their services, state-run buses ran with security escorts.
An Eastern Railway spokesman, however, said train services were, by and large, unaffected.
A report from Begusarai, quoting official sources, said the bandh was total and peaceful.
State Bharatiya Janata Party president Nand Kishore Yadav and leader of the opposition in the state assembly S K Modi claimed that the overwhelming response to the call had proved beyond doubt that people of the state were fed up with the 'corrupt, ineffective and incompetent Laloo-Rabri regime'.
Modi said the bandh was called to highlight alleged failure of the Rabri Devi ministry to tackle flood and drought conditions, deteriorating law and order situation, and also to protest the police firing on relief-seekers at Aurai in Muzaffarpur.
The police firing claimed four lives.
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