New Delhi, Apr 19: Opposition NDA will announce a nation-wide agitation against the government over price rise next week in an attempt to keep the issue burning ahead of a series of assembly elections.

A meeting of top NDA leaders will be held here on Monday to chalk out the detailed agitation plan on price rise, which it believes has pushed the UPA government on the back foot.

Ahead of the meeting, BJP formed a six-member committee comprising Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar among others to prepare the blueprint for the agitation.

"Prices of essential commodities have never shot up to such a high in such a short span of time before. Whenever the Congress has come to power, prices have increased,'' BJP chief Rajnath Singh said here after the meeting.

Party sources said the multi-pronged protest programme, including a possible 'Bharat Bandh', may span two-three months. The party is planning to make price rise a big issue in poll-bound Karnataka.