Bhubaneswar, Sept. 15: The BJD today announced it would organise a protest at the district level on Monday against the Centre's failure to check the rising prices of petroleum products.

The party also alleged that the BJP was issuing direct and indirect threats to its leaders.

The BJP said the BJD had raised the issue to divert public attention from the collapse of the Bomikhal bridge at Saheed Nagar.

Today, the price of petrol in Bhubaneswar stood at Rs 69.23 a litre and diesel at Rs 62.98 a litre.

BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said: 'Common people are suffering because of the constant rise in the price of petroleum products. Our party will fight against the Centre's move to protect the interests of the people in Odisha.'

Announcing the BJD's programme, party general secretary Sanjay Das Burma said: 'The protest meeting will be held in all districts on Monday. Thereafter, we will chalk out a strategy to continue with our agitation programme till the Centre rolls back the price of petrol and diesel.'

The party also came down heavily on the BJP government's much-hyped Ujjala scheme. 'People don't have money to refill their gas cylinders,' said party's women's wing chief Pramilla Mallick.

Party general secretary Atanu Sabyasachi termed the rise in the price of petroleum products as Puja gift of the Centre to the people. He said: 'A day after petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan was elevated to cabinet rank, prices of petroleum products went up.'

The party, which is upset with BJP president Amit Shah's threat of putting BJD leaders behind bars once they come to power in the state, today accused the BJP of waging an indirect war against it.

'They have started a proxy war against us. They are giving direct and indirect threats to us using various central agencies. They did it in case of Karnataka and some other states. Now they are trying to do this in Odisha,' said Arun Sahu, another general-secretary of the BJD.

On being asked what kind of threat the BJP had issued to the BJD, Sahu was vague. He said: 'Their leaders are issuing threats of different kinds during TV debates. The media is aware of this.'

Though Sahu did not mention the CBI, the central investigating agency has arrested some BJD leaders in the money deposit collection scam. However, the party maintained that despite such threats, it would intensify its agitation against the BJP-led central government.

On being asked whether their agitation would not face the same fate as the Mahanadi agitation in which the party failed to keep its promise of forming a 450km human chain along the Mahanadi river, Mishra said: 'We will take the agitation on the petroleum issue to its logical end because it has affected the common man. On the Mahanadi issue, we can say our fight is continuing.'

BJP state general secretary Dillip Mohanty said: 'The BJD should know the logic behind the rise and fall in petroleum prices. They should try to learn it from the Prime Minister and the petroleum minister.'