Water cannons used on Youth Cong workers marching to 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 BJP formed the government by making false promises.