Bhubaneswar, June 16: The Biju Janata Dal and the left parties today staged demonstrations against hike in petrol price and demanded its immediate rollback.

The BJP, too, has condemned the petrol price hike.

The BJD staged a demonstration outside Raj Bhavan and threatened to launch a weeklong state-wide agitation from tomorrow.

The Left parties also jointly organised a protest rally near Raj Mahal Square and appealed to the mass to join the agitation against the UPA.

The BJD, which had organised a rally in New Delhi demanding a special-category status for the state four days ago, today submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee through Governor S.C. Jamir demanding rollback of the decision of petroleum price hike.

BJD youth wing president Sanjay Das Burma said: “There has been a regular increase in petrol and diesel prices, fuelling inflation. It pinches the pocket of common man. The price of petrol has increased by 120 per cent since the UPA came to power. The government should frame a pragmatic policy to control the fuel price.”

Senior BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said: “Hike in petrol prices directly or indirectly affects all the major sectors such as transportation, textiles, automobile and consumer goods. It will also affect the prices of essential commodities.”

The BJD also said that in the UPA-I regime, petrol prices increased from Rs 33 to Rs 40 per litre registering a 21 per cent increase. But in UPA-II, petrol prices registered a 75 per cent increase.

BJP state spokesperson Samir Mohanty said: “Union petroleum minister M. Veerappa Moily should immediately resign for failing to keep a tab on the activities of the petroleum prices. The UPA has lost all moral authority to remain in power.”

CPI zonal committee secretary Sura Jena said: “ We will intensify our protest if the UPA does not roll back the price.”