By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and its allies have given a call for Orissa shutdown July 5 to protest the hike in fuel prices, a senior BJD leader said Monday.
“We have given a state wide bandh (shutdown) call on July 5. Our allies will join us in the strike,” BJD spokesman Baishnab Parida told IANS.
The party’s allies in the state are the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Forward Bloc, the Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Earlier in the day, at least 40 legislators of the BJD took out a cycle rally here to protest the hike in fuel prices.
Carrying posters, banners and placards, legislators and party workers pedalled to the state assembly from the BJD office.
“The fuel price hike will affect the common man. It will force many to ride bicycles. We demand that the central government roll-back its decision,” a senior BJD leader told IANS.
The central government Friday ended government curbs on petroleum pricing and hiked the price of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas.
The price of diesel went up by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene by Rs.3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder. Petrol will now be costlier by Rs.3.50 a litre.