The Congress party on Saturday appealed to Jat leaders to withdraw their agitation for reservation and not to “fall prey to the BJP’s politics of divide and rule”.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda appealed to Jat leaders to maintain peace and resolve the issue through talks.

Hooda also announced that he would sit on a day-long hunger strike on Sunday to press for his appeal to the Jats to withdraw their agitation.

He said he wanted to go to Rohtak but the state administration did not permit him
 However, Hooda refused to answer questions as to who was responsible for the deteriorating situation in the state.

A curfew has been clamped in Rohtak, Bhiwani and Sonepat following violence and firing on Friday.

Protesters torched a railway station in Jind while Army has been deployed in nine districts affected by the violence.

“I am pained to say that while BJP-RSS seek to divide the nation on grounds of religion and region to carry forward their political agenda, a sinister attempt is being made to create bitter divisions of  caste in Haryana,” Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters.

Surjewala also slammed BJP ministers, MPs and MLAs for making controversial and unnecessary statements which he claimed had led to tensions in the state.