National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Nasiruddin Patwary on Friday threatened to lead a march towards Gulshan if the government fails to take action against powerful business syndicates he accused of manipulating the market and keeping commodity prices high.

“If the government cannot bring these syndicates under control, we will march towards their offices in Gulshan,” he said while addressing a protest rally at Shahbagh, arranged by the NCP's Dhaka north and south city units.

He accused Meghna Group and Bashundhara Group of maintaining financial links with the ruling BNP, alleging that the two business groups had been making payments to the party's Gulshan office.

He claimed that such business-political ties were contributing to syndication in the market and driving up the prices of essential commodities.

He said the NCP had conducted a survey on commodity prices over a week and claimed that prices in Bangladesh were around 20 percent higher than those in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

He, however, did not provide details of the survey methodology or the specific products compared.

The NCP leader also alleged that consumers were being charged between Tk 2,500 and Tk 3,500 for LPG cylinders, despite the government-fixed price being Tk 1,837.

Referring to the city's transport problems, he said the NCP would support removing unauthorised vehicles from roads and clearing footpaths only if the government ensured adequate alternative public transport.

He warned that the party would consider stopping the vehicles of government officials and other luxury car users if ordinary commuters continued to suffer from a lack of public transport.

He also accused the government of failing to address unemployment among young people, recalling the BNP's election pledge to create one crore jobs.

The NCP leader further alleged that syndicates and corruption were affecting public services, including hospitals, and called for accountability over the problems facing ordinary people.