Rajasthan's jobless youths protest at UP Cong office to meet Priyanka

Lucknow, Nov 29 After carrying out shirtless agitations, offering roses to ministers as a mark of protest and going on hunger strikes, unemployed youth from Rajasthan are now staging a 'dharna' outside the Congress party headquarters in Lucknow, demanding an audience with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The protests in Uttar Pradesh - organised under the banner of Rajasthan Berozgar Ekikrut Mahasangh (RBEM) - are aimed at pressuring the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan to accept long-standing demands made by the unemployed in Rajasthan.

Their demands include appointments in several government jobs for which recruitment exams have already been conducted, increase in the number of vacancies for state government jobs and formulation of a non-bailable law against those who leak question papers in competitive examinations.

"We are sitting on 'dharna' outside the UP Congress Committee and have now started a hunger strike. For the past 47 days, we have been protesting in Jaipur. We want to meet Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The Congress has announced that they will give 20 lakh jobs in Uttar Pradesh. Before the 2018 Assembly elections we had lent support to the Congress. But promises made to us have not been fulfilled," said Upen Yadav, president of RBEM on Monday.

Earlier, the RBEM had said that it will oppose the Congress in the Uttar Pradesh elections at rallies of its leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"The Congress has a government in Rajasthan. Despite this, they are not fulfilling the promises made to the unemployed youth and instead making tall promises to the people of Uttar Pradesh. First the party should fulfil their promises made in Rajasthan," said Yadav.

The protesters also accused UP Congress workers of misbehaving with them.