Many flights were cancelled and trucks stayed off the roads in India on Monday in response to a day-long strike called by opposition parties to protest fuel price hikes they say will add to double-digit inflation.

The strike, called by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Left parties, is seen as a test of Opposition strength as the ruling Congress party attempts to push ahead with key reforms in the country.

In an attempt to make Monday's nationwide strike against fuel price hike a success, the BJP today decided to send its senior leaders out to various state capitals to lead demonstrations and protest marches.

According to the decision, party president Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh will lead the protest in New Delhi.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday said the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Arjun Singh alone can not be held responsible for letting Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, out of the country.

"Arjun Singh alone can not held be responsible for letting Anderson out of the country. The then Central Government and some senior leaders of Congress party too are responsible for it," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha told reporters in Raipur.

All SMS services in Kashmir have been blocked, media reports said Tuesday. The step has been taken by the government keeping in mind the deteriorating law and order situation in the Valley.

On Monday, two people, Tajamul Bashir (17) and Ashif Hassan Rather (9) died in CRPF firing in Sopore and Baramulla, both 55 km north of Srinagar. This brings the number of civilian deaths at the hands of troops to eight in 15 days, three of them in the past 48 hours.

The alliance between the Janata Dal(United) and the BJP in Bihar continued to remain tenuous over Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s stand against Gujarat CM Narendra Modi and BJP MP Varun Gandhi campaigning for the NDA in the assembly polls in October.

The Union Home Ministry has asked President Pratibha Patil's office to reject Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy plea, informed sources said.

However, few reports in media say that the Home Ministry has yet not confirmed this.

Guru is on the death row since 2002 for the 2001 parliament attack. His wife Tabassum filed a mercy petition with the Rashtrapati Bhavan four years ago.