CPI activists at a protest rally against petrol price hike in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Sept. 16: The hike in petrol price by the central government has evoked sharp reaction here as various political parties staged demonstrations in the twin cities on Friday.

In Bhubaneswar, the BJD and the BJP staged separate demonstrations and demanded immediate rollback of the petrol price hike. The CPI also staged a demonstration.

“The rise will only add to the burden of the common man. I strongly urge the Centre to rollback the hike,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik. All the political parties have threatened to intensify their agitation against the Centre for its “anti-people” approach.

Activists of the Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD), the youth wing of BJD, staged a rally at the Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar. They burnt effigies of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

BYJD president Sanjay Dasburma said: “The UPA government has totally failed to control the spiralling inflation rate. In the last one and half years, the price of petrol has been hiked by Rs 19 per litre. This will badly affect people, especially those belonging to low income groups and students.”

The BJD youth wing also alleged that in order to increase the party’s funding base, Sonia and Singh seemed to have developed a “nexus” with petroleum companies and decontrolled the price of petroleum products.

Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and MLAs Ashok Panda and Bijay Mohanty also took part in the agitation.

BJP activists also staged a padyatra and burnt effigies of Sonia and Singh. “The decision to hike petrol prices will put extra burden on the pockets of the people belonging to the weaker section,” said Amiya Das, secretary of BJP’s Bhubaneswar unit.

In Cuttack, activists of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) also staged a demonstration and burnt Singh’s effigy. Members of the CPI(M) also staged a demonstration at Sikharpur.

Alleging that the hike in petrol prices would further led to a rise in the prices of essential commodities, SUCI activists staged a demonstration at College Square.