Hundreds of unemployed youth from Rajasthan are staging a dharna outside the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters in Lucknow, demanding a meeting with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The protest, organised under the banner of Rajasthan Berojgari Ekikrit Mahasangh (RBEM), is aimed at pressurising the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan to accept long-standing demands made by the unemployed youths in Rajasthan.

The demands of the protesters 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 a dharna outside the UP Congress Committee office in Lucknow 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 and apprise her of our ordeal. The Congress has announced that it will give 20 lakh jobs in Uttar Pradesh. Before the 2018 assembly elections in Lucknow, we had lent support to the Congress. But promises made to us have not been fulfilled by the Gehlot government,” said RBEM president Upen Yadav on Monday.

Earlier, the RBEM had declared that it would oppose the Congress at rallies of its leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, ahead of the UP assembly elections.

“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 youths of Uttar Pradesh. First, the ruling party should fulfill its promises made in Rajasthan,” Yadav said.

Newly-appointed advisor to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, MLA Danish Abrar, reached out to the protesters and held talks in Jaipur on November 23. However, after no consensus could be reached, the protesters left for Uttar Pradesh on November 26 and after reaching Lucknow, they also accused the UP Congress workers of misbehaving with them.

The Bharatiya Janata Party was prompt to corner the Rajasthan government over the protests by unemployed youth, with former chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan state BJP chief Satish Poonia, deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore, all slamming the Gehlot regime.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot said that the opposition was “inciting” the protests.

“What is the logic behind staging a dharna at Lucknow? Our friends are staging dharna at Lucknow? Isn't this politics? The opposition is inciting them. What is the logic? You are sending them to Lucknow…where the government is run by the BJP,” Gehlot said.

The Congress leaders in Uttar Pradesh have so far been silent over the issue.