Chandigarh, June 26 (AHN) Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda on Friday met the youth in Panchkula, who are on an indefinite hunger strike, to press their demands against the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) for appointing candidates from outside the state in government jobs.

Speaking on the occasion, Hooda said that the youth of Haryana have been forced to protest and undertake a hunger strike due to the excesses of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

"The demands of the youth, who are fasting in protest against the HPSC's rigging of recruitment processes that deprives Haryanvi youth of jobs, are completely legitimate. The government must accept their demands without delay and bring the hunger strike to an end," he added.

"The health of the fasting youth is steadily deteriorating. To make matters worse, the scorching heat and the government's apathy are akin to rubbing salt into their wounds," Hooda told the media at the protest site.

He met with candidates on hunger strike in Sector-5 and appealed to them to call off the fast.

He assured them that the Congress would fight the battle for all candidates with full vigour, both inside the House and on the streets.

"The government is consistently playing with the future of Haryana's youth. Local youths are being overlooked in favour of outsiders for Class A and B jobs. Recruitment posts are being deliberately left vacant; specifically, vacancies reserved for Backward Class and Scheduled Caste categories are being left unfilled. The government has turned the 35 per cent criteria into a tool to avoid making recruitments and to deny Haryana youth their rights. This criterion should be scrapped immediately, and the vacant posts filled," the two-time Chief Minister said.

The veteran Congress leader added: "The process to fill posts that were deliberately left vacant must begin with immediate effect, as the patience of the youth is running out. They have been forced to abandon their books and take to the streets in protest."

"The Congress stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the youth in this struggle," Hooda added.