Members of the Odisha Chhatra Congress, the student wing of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), on Tuesday sold onions in front of the residence of Odisha agriculture minister Ranendra Pratap Swain to lodge their protest against the soaring onion prices.

They raised slogans against the Odisha government and the Union government holding them responsible for the rise in the prices of onion. They also burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Naveen Patnaik and state agriculture minister Swain.

Odisha Chhatra Congress president Yashir Nawaz told The Telegraph: “What was the state government doing over the last two weeks? Why has it not brought onions in advance from other states? The state government formed an Onion Mission in line with the Potato Mission in 2015 to control the price rise of onions and encourage farmers to opt for the cultivation of onions. Under it, the state government had planned to set up cold storage. We want to know the status of the Onion Mission which was formed at a cost of Rs 15 crore.”

Nawaz said: “We sold nearly one quintal of onions at Rs 20 per kg to highlight the issue. We need an answer as to why the agriculture minister remained silent on the issue.”

“Both the state government and the Centre are responsible for the rising prices of onion,” he said.