Madhya Pradesh BJP chief and MP Prabhat Jha on Monday made an unusual request of president Pratibha Patil, seeking her permission to end his life in solidarity with the poor "dying due to backbreaking price rise."

His agony is that as a member of Parliament he could not sway the government to act on the issue and hence, the death wish.

"My life will be of some worth...My becoming a member of Parliament will also have some importance. I have nothing with me to offer except my own life," Jha wrote in a four-page letter to the president.

Jha has mailed copies to the chief justice of India, BJP president Nitin Gadkari and opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.

The Rajya Sabha MP  said that he chose the drastic step since even the BJP's 'Bharat Bandh' as a collective concern did not move the callous Congress-led UPA government to stop "the game of playing with the life of the poor by raising prices every now and then."

He points out that the UPA came to power back in 2004 promising to bring down prices in 100 days but it failed to control them even after two year.

Stating that his letter was neither emotional blackmail nor written for publicity, Jha said he was anguished and pained as the situation made him feel helpless.

"In such a scenario, I find my life meaningless. I believe that it is better to give up life as being a people's representative in the public interest than to witness the death of millions of people," he says, adding that he knows even his death will not have any impact on the Congress-led UPA government.

"You may well understand my mental agony. While on the one side, the wrong policies and corruption go unchecked under Congress-led UPA government, the game of playing with the life of the poor by raising prices every now and then continues unabated on the other," he said in his missive.