Published: May 25, 2013 20:50 IST | Updated: May 26, 2013 01:53 IST
Mahendra Karma killed, V.C. Shukla injured in Maoist attack
18 Congress workers also die as Naxalites encircle the motorcade and open fire from all sides in Chhattisgarh
Mahendra Karma, a powerful tribal leader of the Congress from south Chhattisgarh, who founded Salwa Judum to combat Maoists, was killed in an attack in which at least 18 party workers also died at Darbha, 400 km south of the capital, on Saturday.
Senior leader Uday Mudaliar also died in the attack, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told reporters in New Delhi. While there was no official confirmation of the deaths till late on Saturday night, police sources told The Hindu that they feared 18 deaths.
A battalion of Naxalites attacked the motorcade of the Congress workers and leaders in the hilly areas of Darbha while they were returning from Sukma after an election rally. “The Naxals first blasted the second and third car of the motorcade and opened fire,” said Additional Director-General (Intelligence) Mukesh Gupta.
Senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla is severely injured but safe and Congress president in Chhattisgarh Nandkumar Patel and his son have been abducted by the militants. “We cannot launch a search operation at night, as there is a chance of our getting ambushed,” said an official of the Bastar district administration.
Konta MLA Kawasi Lakhma was injured and admitted to hospital. A high-level meeting was convened at Chief Minister Raman Singh’s residence. “Senior official attended the meeting and apprised Mr. Singh of the situation,” said an officer attached to the Chief Minister. A team of doctors has been sent by road to Jagdalpur.
Senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi, who was also present at the rally, alleged that the administration did not provide adequate security. “I asked the local police about the security as there was virtually nothing. While huge security forces are deployed for a BJP rally, there is virtually no security cover for us.”
The Congress launched the fourth phase of Parivartan Yatra (march for change) in south Chhattisgarh on Thursday. At the end of the rally in Sukma, more than a hundred Congress workers and leaders were coming back in a motorcade.
After crossing Tongpal around 4 p.m., when the motorcade reached the hilly tract of Darbha, between Jagdalpur and Sukma, the driver of the first vehicle noticed a roadblock.
“A tree and a truck were used to block the road,” said a local journalist. Once the vehicles stopped, the second and third cars were blasted. Then the Naxalites encircled the area, opening fire from all sides. Local Congress workers, some of whom were present at the rally, claimed that at least 20 of their workers were killed.
Published: May 26, 2013 01:52 IST | Updated: May 26, 2013 01:52 IST
It’s an attack on democratic values: Sonia
PM assures all assistance, more Central police forces
Stunned by gruesome Naxal attack on its top Chhattisgarh leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday termed it as an “attack on democratic values,” even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up State Chief Minister Raman Singh to take stock of the situation and assured deployment of more forces to deal with the Maoist menace.
“We are shocked, astounded and pained by the attack on our colleagues in Chhattisgarh...It is an attack on democratic values which need to be condemned by not only political parties, but society as a whole,” Ms. Gandhi told reporters here.
Meanwhile, government sources said the Prime Minister spoke to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Mr. Raman Singh over phone and assured all assistance and more Central police forces in dealing with the situation. Mr. Singh also offered to send air ambulances to rush seriously injured leaders to Delhi for better medical care.
Soon after the attack, senior Home Ministry officials huddled in the North Block to take review security scenario in all Naxal-affected states. Senior officers of the CRPF, the paramilitary force that is assisting the State police forces in fighting Maoists, were also called to discuss the attack and steps needed to ensure safety and security of leaders in the State, where the threat perception is higher.
Official sources said the Home Ministry along with police forces of all nine Naxal-affected States were likely to review overall security scenario in these States and also relook at security cover being provided to leaders and other prominent persons.
17 dead as Maoists target Cong, VC Shukla critical | |
| OUR BUREAU | |
May 25: Maoists today ambushed a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh and killed at least 17 people, including Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma, and critically injured former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla. Some 500 rebels are said to have launched the afternoon mine-and-bullet attack in south Bastar’s Darbha valley, about 400km from Raipur, outnumbering and outgunning the police security guards during a two-hour forest battle. Former Congress MLA Uday Mudaliar was killed while sitting MLA Kawasi Lakhma was critical with a bullet in the head. State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh are missing amid suspicion that the rebels may have kidnapped them. The Prime Minister and an “astounded and shocked” Sonia Gandhi will visit Chhattisgarh tomorrow while Rahul Gandhi has already left for the state, PTI reported. The convoy of 20-odd vehicles was returning from Sukma to Jagdalpur after one leg of the Parivartan Yatra, launched a month ago ahead of the state polls, due in November. “The Maoists detonated mines and opened indiscriminate fire,” a senior police officer said. Karma, a former state leader of the Opposition, was the Congress’s tallest tribal leader in Chhattisgarh. As founder of the now-defunct anti-Maoist vigilante group Salwa Judum, accused of atrocities on the tribals, he had long been on the Maoists’ hit list. A senior Congress leader who survived the attack told The Telegraph that Karma had surrendered to the Maoists when his security guard ran out of ammunition. “The rebels took him to one side and pumped bullets into him,” he added. Reports said Karma was riddled with more than 50 bullets. Shukla, 83, once the most powerful politician in Chhattisgarh, is said to have taken three bullets, two of them in the back. The Prime Minister spoke to chief minister Raman Singh after an emergency meeting at his residence and offered all possible help. Former chief minister Ajit Jogi, who pulled out of the Yatra because of poor health, sobbed while condemning the incident. He blamed it on a security lapse by the BJP government and demanded its ouster. “There weren’t sufficient security personnel to escort the Congress leaders,” he said, claiming that more than 3,000 jawans had been deployed for the chief minister’s Vikas Yatra, also opposed by the rebels. The Centre is unlikely to take any drastic measure against the state government so close to the Assembly polls. The Congress would not want to take on itself the onus of controlling the situation when the incident has exposed the BJP government’s failure. In Raipur, Congress workers marched towards Raj Bhavan and the chief minister’s residence to gherao them but the police foiled the plan. The dead include five policemen and a woman tribal leader, Phulo Devi Netam, police said. More than 100 party workers and leaders were in the convoy, which was passing through dense forests on a slender highway flanked by hills, cut off from any communication network. Sources said the Maoists had put up roadblocks by felling trees before triggering a landmine blast that hit one of the vehicles. After the attack, they allegedly set nearby trees on fire. “This was a major security lapse,” a senior Chhattisgarh officer told this newspaper, adding that the roads had not been sanitised. “How could so many party leaders and workers travel in the convoy together through this stretch?” The attack came a day before the Maoists’ Dandakaranya bandh in protest at the police killing eight villagers in Edasmetta last week “by mistake”. The army has been called in and the Centre is sending reinforcements. |
