Pune: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday extended support to the ongoing agitation of MPSC aspirants in the city and said he would raise the protesters’ demands before Maharashtra govt.As several MPSC aspirants continued with their protest on the third day in Pune despite police denying them permission, Rahul took to his “X” handle to support their demands, including the removal of the MPSC chairperson and filling up over 70,000 vacant posts.“During the recent ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme in Pune, I had demanded the Maharashtra chief minister to listen to the students, and ensure reforms in MPSC and transparency in examinations. However, nothing has happened and the aspirants are again staging a protest in Pune,” Rahul wrote.The protesters recently held a meeting with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai, where he assured them of a judicial inquiry against the current and former chairpersons of MPSC as well as other members, the continuation of offline examinations and reforms in the recruitment process.Following the meeting, the protesters announced calling off the agitation. But several aspirants gathered near Pune’s Abasaheb Garware College on Thursday and started an agitation despite police denying them permission.Rahul on his “X” handle mentioned that Youth Congress and NSUI would continue to stand by the protesters. “The demands of the protesters are not unjust. They need action and not just assurances. I will raise the issue again before the Maharashtra govt and demand a permanent solution. The institution that determines students’ future has been hijacked; we will not let it continue,” he wrote.Congress members, including state chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, former state minister Balasaheb Thorat and MLA Vishwajeet Kadam, joined the protest on Saturday. “We will continue to stand by the protesters in their fight till the system that plays with the students’ future is held accountable,” Sapkal said.
