New Delhi, June 28: BJP today demanded an explanation from  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the recent increase in prices of petroleum products and announced that it would launch country-wide protests against price rise on July 1.
 "BJP will observe July 1 as Mahangai Virodh Diwas across the  country. Rallies will be organised in state capitals and prominent  cities against price rise," party general secretary Ananth Kumar  told reporters here today.
 He alleged that though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stated  on the first anniversary of UPA-II that price rise is a serious issue  and promised to deal with it, nothing has been done.
 "We want to ask if hike in petro-product prices is an example  of the kind of solutions this government is looking at to deal with  this problem," he said.
 BJP alleged that the first task performed by National Advisory  Council headed by Gandhi was suggesting increase in prices of petroleum  products.
 "What is the NAC doing on price rise? Not only the Prime Minister  but also the UPA Chairperson are answerable to the nation for price  rise," he said.
 The BJP General Secretary stated that UPA had won the 2009 Lok  Sabha polls with the promise of controlling prices.
 He said BJP President Nitin Gadkari will lead the protests on  July 1 in Ratlam, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj  in Raipur, M Venkaiah Naidu in Chennai, Rajnath Singh in Bhubaneshwar  and M M Joshi in Ranchi.
 The main opposition is also carrying out a signature campaign  against price rise and has set a target of collecting 10 crore signatures before the monsoon session of Parliament beginning next month.
 "When the monsoon session of Parliament begins, we will march  to Rashtrapati Bhawan and submit to the President whatever number  of signatures are achieved by then," Kumar said, claiming five crore  signatures have already been collected.
 The BJP leader accused the Centre of misleading people on the
 issue of price rise.
 Kumar said a comparison should be made of the rise and fall in  prices in the last few months in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal with  prices in India to know the reality.
 "The UPA government is not only defending the rise in prices  but even trying to justify it," he said.
 BJP fears that food inflation, already hovering around 18 per  cent, might jump to 20 per cent due to the cascading effect of hike  in petro product prices.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST