The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) on Monday came down heavily on the Congress-led government in Assam over the escalating prices of essential commodities and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi over the issue.

The party took out a protest march to the state secretariat at Dispur, with over 10,000 party workers raising slogans against the government for failing to arrest the price rise.

Addressing the protesters outside the Chief Minister’s Office at Dispur, AGP president and Opposition leader Chandra Mohan Patowari said while the state government had failed on all fronts, the rising prices of essential commodities had hit the common man hardest in recent times.

“That the Tarun Gogoi government has failed on all fronts is evident from just one issue, that being its failure to arrest price rise,” Patowari said. Prices of potatoes, onions, pulses, rice and vegetables had increased manifold in the past few months, he said.

Former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta asked Gogoi to come out with comparative prices of various essential items during the AGP rule and now.

“The chief minister should come out with comparative prices of various commodities during our time and now. Prices have gone up by four to five times in just a few months, and the government has just remained a mute spectator,” Mahanta said.