Police use water canons as protesting Youth Cong workers march to gherao Rajasthan CM's residence

Jaipur: The police on Wednesday used water cannons and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the protesting Youth Congress workers, who were demanding the re-employment of people working under the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra scheme.

The BJP government scrapped the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra scheme, a flagship programme of the previous Congress regime, weeks after coming to power in Rajasthan.

Under the scheme, 'yuva mitras' were engaged to create awareness about the government services and were given stipends.

After holding a meeting at Shaheed Smarak, the Youth Congress workers began a march to gherao Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma's residence.

The protestors were stopped near the Police Commissionerate. When they did not pay heed to the warning, the police resorted to cane charging and used water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, who participated in the protest, said that 5,000 Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra should be given employment again.

Addressing his party workers, he said the BJP formed the government by making false promises.

Asserting the Centre has not fulfilled a single promise, Srinivas said the BJP had promised to deposit Rs 15 lakh into bank accounts of every citizen but it did not come.

Srinivas also said that the government should hold talks with the protesting farmers and accept all their demands.

Youth Congress state president Abhimanyu Poonia said that the state government has lost its trust in just two-and-a-half months.

"The government is not living up to the promises it had made to the youth and farmers. No job arrangement has been made for the unemployed youth in the state," he said.