Congress rejects Gujjars' demand in Rajasthan,condemns police firing

Lucknow, Jun 4 (UNI) The Congress today rejected the Gujjars' demand in Rajasthan seeking ST status for the community and came down heavily on the Vasundhara Raje government for misleading them by false election promise.

''We condemn the police firing on Gujjars in Rajasthan and urge the state government to have a dialogue with agitating Gujjars to resolve the issue,'' senior Congress leader and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh affairs, Digvijay Singh, told mediapersons here.

He said the Congress would not support the cause of Gujjars as the issue of reservation would have to be decided jointly by Union Social Justice Ministry, Registrar General of Census and SC and ST Commission. ''Conceding reservation demands like this would give rise to other similar situations in the future,'' he reasoned.

Mr Singh, however, said the volatile situation in Rajasthan should be contained at the earliest, but ruled out the Centre's intervention in the matter.

In reply to a question, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said the situation in Rajasthan did not warrant an extreme step like imposition of President's rule in the state. ''There are political compulsions for the Congress to avoid the use of Article 356 in the states,'' he said.

Mr Singh said law and order was a state subject and the role of the Centre was limited to providing, on request, the Central forces which were always on the disposal of the state.

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