Patna, Apr 11 (PTI) Police used batons and water cannons at a rally to disperse Congress workers from advancing towards Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s official residence in Patna on Friday.

Several Congress leaders and workers, including Kanhaiya Kumar, were detained by the police, an officer said.

The rally was organised upon the completion of “Palayan roko, naukri do (stop migration, give jobs) pada-yatra”, a drive aimed at mobilising the state’s youth on the issues of unemployment.

Congress workers began the march from the Sadaqat Ashram, the BPCC headquarters, but met with barricades at Raja Pul crossing, less than a kilometre away, where their attempts to cross the barriers led to the use of force by police personnel.

The demonstrators wanted to march up to 1, Anne Marg, the CM’s official residence, which is situated in a high-security area with restrictions on movement of common people, and submit a memorandum.

The “pada-yatra”, a joint exercise of the Congress’ student and youth wings, is being seen as an attempt by the party to strengthen itself in a state where assembly polls are a few months away.

At the Sadaqat Ashram, AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot and spokesperson Supriya Shrinate addressed the party workers.

Pilot, who is a former Union minister, called the ruling NDA in Bihar “a double engine that does not move forward but only emits smoke”.

He also took potshots at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), for his alleged failure to secure benefits for the state “even though the BJP depends on his party for surviving in power at the Centre”.

Pilot promised that if the Mahagathbandhan, of which the Congress is a part, came to power in Bihar, “filling up a huge backlog of vacancies in government departments” would be the top priority.

Earlier, addressing a press conference in the city, Pilot had said a decision on who would be the chief minister in the Mahagathbandhan government, if it wins the election, would be taken “at an appropriate time after due discussions”.

JD(U) spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad came out with a statement claiming: “This is a setback to RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav who declared himself the chief ministerial candidate a couple of days ago”.

Leaders of the NDA such as Union minister Chirag Paswan have also been claiming that the Congress’ “vaulting ambitions” would lead to a strain on its ties with RJD and may result in a break-up ahead of polls.

However, when Tejashwi Yadav’s remarks were sought on the “pada-yatra”, he said, “My fight has been against Bihar’s unemployment problem. I am happy to see other parties also hitting the streets on the issue”. PTI NAC NN