* President Morales seeks talks over forest highway plan
* Criticism of Morales mounts from within his Indian base
LA PAZ, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Bolivian indigenous activists on Monday started a long march from the Amazon plains to the capital in protest against a government plan to build a 185-mile (300 km) highway through the forest.
The $420 million road, to be built by Brazilian company OAS and largely financed by Brasilia, would link the plains of Beni to Chapare, a sparsely populated region where Bolivian President Evo Morales began his political career as leader of the coca farmers.
To coincide with the march, strikes and road blockades were called in two other areas of the country in what Morales said was a coordinated effort to undermine him politically.
Criticism of the president has mounted from within his own indigenous base over the highway project.
"This march will end in La Paz, so that the government understands and thinks about changing its attitude and changing the route of the highway project," said Fernando Vargas, one of the leaders of the protest, as he and at least 500 others started the 370-mile (600 km) walk from Beni to the capital.
The road controversy has put the president on the defensive ahead of nationwide judicial elections in October, part of broader reforms to give indigenous people a bigger role in state affairs.
In June, Morales angered Indian activists by saying the road would be built through the Isiboro Secure indigenous territory and national park "whether they like it or not." (Reporting by Carlos A. Quiroga L., Claudia Soruco and Carlos Vargas; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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