Chanting anti-government slogans, thousands of BJP workers on Wednesday hit the streets of Delhi to protest against price rise with party chief Nitin Gadkari accusing the UPA of presiding over a Rs 2.8 lakh crore "big scandal" by allowing commodity exchange.

Party workers converged at Jantar Mantar, the capital's dharna hotspot, armed with party flags and posters and wearing garlands of vegetables raising slogans against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Gadkari led the charge against the Manmohan Singh government, especially on Pawar, saying that the party will intensify the fight against UPA on the issue with a gherao of
Parliament on February 22 when the budget session starts.

He said the government was presiding over a Rs 2.8 lakh crore "big scandal" by allowing commodity exchange and snatching food from the "mouths of poor people". He also invited "all parties" to fight "shoulder to shoulder" against the government on the issue of price rise.

"The prices are rising and our Agriculture Minister is not concerned about it. He is concerned about IPL matches. Is he the Civil Supplies Minister or the Cricket Minister, I don't know. The Prime Minister should appoint him as Cricket Minister," Gadkari said in a veiled reference to Pawar's visit to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray urging him not to disrupt Indian Premier League matches.

"Price rise is like one-day match. The price of sugar has crossed half-century while price of 'daal' crossed century. Pawar is the coach of the team," he said.