All it took was a handful of Youth Congress workers and members of the Baroda Road Transport Association and one hour. As BRTA president Surendra Yadav and his deputy P M Vaghela screamed at the drivers that the rumours (of an end to the strike) were ``a sinister government plan to destroy the transporters' unity'', reluctant drivers unwillingly pressed the brakes.

On the seventh day of the agitation, fissures in the transporters' fraternity widened perceptibly and allegations of a ``farcical stir' and a ``politically motivated discrimination'' flew thick and fast.

Nowhere was it better borne out than at Golden Chowkdi, where Yadav detained two trucks, whose drivers claimed allegiance to Nandlal Thapar, president of the All-Gujarat Transporters' Association. A visibly upset Yadav said he called up the AGTA office in Ahmedabad to enquire if the strike had been called off, only to receive an answer in the negative.

``Par Thapar sahib ke gadiya hamare admiyon ne yahan detain kar liye hain. Yeh hamare liye sharam ki baat hain'', he told the Ahmedabad office-bearers of the AGTA. (Thapar, in a telephonic talk with Express Newsline later, expressed ignorance about the seizure of two of his trucks, but attributed the mix-up to ``a communication gap and incomplete reporting in a section of the Press'').

Yadav himself, however, did not seem over-enthusiastic about the trucks returning to the roads. Express Newsline overheard him telling Karelibaug inspector S S Baranda that his vocal `truck-stopping' campaign would be synchronised with the arrival of the Press.

When confronted with the charge that it was all a publicity-stunt, Yadav tried to explain, ``We aren't doing it for the Press alone. We don't want the government's plan (to force-end the stir) to succeed.''

All through Wednesday's `agitation' (20-odd State Reserve Police Force personnel had been despatched to the spot as a preventive measure), it was the helpless truck-drivers who were simmering with discontent. ``If this tamasha continues for a few days more, a time will come when the union leaders are bashed up by the truckers,'' fumed Ajit Singh, a truck-driver from Punjab, who's been stranded here for the last six days.

The general consensus among truckers appears to be that the stir has been called on an unjustified issue and at the wrong time. ``It's during this pre-Diwali period that truckers earn the majority of their income. The stir will make things difficult financially'', added Ajay Gupta, a transporter.

According to driver Jasjit Singh of Ludhiana, the entire issue was being politicised. His colleague Bhishambhar alleged, ``The stir should have been basically against the irrational service tax on transportation and harassment of drivers by regional transport officers. But some union leaders obviously want to extract political mileage by using the diesel hike issue.''

Truckers claimed that the stir would have a major impact on the Diwali market. ``With goods meant primarily for the occasion not being transported, the prolonged stir will ultimately reflect on the market,'' predicted a driver.