The government appeared to take the situation seriously enough for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting with home minister Shivraj Patil and Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar.
Till now the Gujjar agitation had disrupted train traffic passing through Rajasthan but moving the agitation to Delhi could prove to be a tough task for the government to handle and make it the Centre's headache instead of just the Vasundhara Raje government.
Meanwhile tension mounted as the five-day old Gujjar agitation spread to new areas in Rajasthan today amid reports of violence and traffic chaos on highways.
Police teargassed Gujjar protesters who blocked the Delhi-Jaipur national highway as the agitation spread to Tonk and Banswara. Hopes of a breakthrough were dashed with Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla outright rejecting a letter by the Chief Minister to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending four to six per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of denotified tribes.
Hundreds of Gujjar youths put up blockades on National Highway-8 near Kotputali, 130 km from Jaipur, leading to jams on either sides of the road and queuing up of buses, police said. Police first resorted to lathi charge and later used teargas shells to disperse the protesters.
In Tonk district, about 200 km from Jaipur, police used teargas against Gujjars who were forcing shopkeepers to down their shutters and blockading roads,police said. At least ten people including two policemen were injured when protestors indulged in brick batting at Ghas village, 12 km from Tonk according to police sources.
