Demanding a roll-back in the fuel and fertiliser price hike, the Left and constituents of the opposition Third Front Monday called for a countrywide shutdown April 27 and threatened to move a cut motion on the finance bill to be presented by the government in parliament.

Leaders of 13 opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), held a two-hour meeting in the capital and strongly opposed "the wrong policies of the government".