New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS): The Congress convened a meeting on Tuesday to prepare for its nationwide protest against price rise and unemployment scheduled on Friday (August 5).

All the party general secretaries, state in-charges and state presidents were called for the meeting during which they were given directions to stage the protest at all levels in their respective states. They were also told to ensure that the office-bearers of the party connect with the public for the nationwide agitation.

Following demand raised by the opposition parties, a discussion on price rise was held in the Lok Sabha on Monday, wherein the Congress alleged that inflation is affecting every household. However, Fiance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government is making efforts to bring down retail inflation below 7 per cent.

Talking about domestic commodities, she underlined that prices of edible oil have corrected sharply following steps taken by the government.

Sitharaman also said that the global agencies have ranked India's economy higher than most countries and there is no sign of recession here.

Meanwhile, Congress leader K.C. Venugopal said in a letter to the party's state and district units that "record-breaking" inflation level coupled with "huge" increase in prices of many essential commodities, particularly pulses, edible oil, LPG, petrol and diesel, has burdened the common people to an "intolerable extent".

"Taking our uncompromising protest against the record-breaking price rise and unemployment forward, the Congress has decided to observe a massive nationwide protest on August 5," he wrote.