Agencies 
 
New Delhi, Jun 12: Accusing the ruling Congress-led UPA of backtracking on its election promises of working for the benefit of the common man, former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and leader of the Opposition L K Advani on Monday courted arrest to protest hike in prices of commodities in the country.

Vajpayee, Advani and scores of NDA MPs and BLP MLAs from Delhi courted arrest at the Parliament Street police station here after an Opposition rally against the rise in prices of fuel and edibles.

They were released immediately.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and BJP leaders Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Sushma Swaraj and the Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi and Anand Geete were among others who courted arrest.

In his speech, Vajpayee dismissed the Congress-ruled states' move to slash sales tax on fuel prices as a "joke", demanding that the Centre reduce customs and excise duties on fuel to cut cost.