A bicycle rally to protest impending oil price hike

Patna, May 25 : The Bharatiya Janata Party took out a bicycle rally here on Sunday in protest against the impending petrol and diesel price hike.

Shouting slogans against the Central Government, the BJP activists took out a procession in different parts of Patna.

"Our protest is against rising prices. In the coming days, the price of petrol and diesel will also go up. Consequently, the prices of other commodities will also go up. Till the UPA is ruling, there would be no let up in the prices. Therefore, we demand its immediate resignation," said Ramji Singh of the BJP's Pachayati Raj Manch.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram on Friday blamed the rising prices of global crude as a factor for inflation in the country.

The wholesale price inflation rate, India's most widely watched measure, rose 7.83 percent in the week ending May 3, it's highest since November 2004.

Chidambaram said he expected the annual inflation rate to moderate once the impact of lower steel and cement prices is felt.

ANI