The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party workers, led by State president C.P. Joshi and party State in-charge Arun Singh, staged a massive demonstration here on Tuesday to protest against the alleged institutional corruption and exam paper leaks under the Congress government. Police used water cannons to disperse the protesters near the State Secretariat.
The BJP leaders and workers began a march from the party’s State headquarters to the State Secretariat after a public meeting. The police stopped them at Statue Circle, as the traffic in the area was disrupted leading to congestion on the roads around the government offices. Mr. Joshi and other leaders were later detained when they attempted to lay siege to the Secretariat building.
Mr. Joshi said the high levels of corruption were visible in the recovery of money and gold from Yojana Bhawan recently, while the future of the youth was being destroyed with the constant leaks of government recruitment exam question papers. “Women are not feeling safe and corruption is rampant. This government should be uprooted in the [upcoming] Assembly election,” he said.
Mr. Singh said though Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was aware of corruption by his Cabinet colleagues, he was not willing to take action against them. Even the Congress MLAs were admitting that there was 50% commission in all official transactions, he said.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha Member Kirodi Lal Meena said the party would shortly expose a major mining scam in the State. Mr. Gehlot was afraid of the Enforcement Directorate’s entry into the probe in the case of leak of question papers of as many as 16 competitive exams during the last one year, he added.
The BJP workers burnt an effigy as a mark of protest after the senior leaders staged a symbolic dharna at the site when the march was stopped.
