Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday visited the family of slain Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel at his native Nadeli village in Raigarh district and assured them of justice and his full support.
'Rahul should have learnt so much in the last 20 years. But give him a mic and he begins to talk without thinking about its consequences.'
With the bitter war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party intensifying, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday dubbed the BJP as a "party of thieves" and accused it of "looting the natural resources" of Chhattisgarh.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said his government will not make public the report of the judicial commission, headed by former judge of Chhattisgarh high court Justice Prashant Mishra, on the May 2013 Jhiram valley Maoist attack, because it is 'incomplete.'
Union Minister Charan Das Mahant was on Monday appointed the acting Pradesh Congress Committee president of poll-bound Chhattisgarh, a week after senior party leaders in the state including PCC Chief Nand Kumar Patel were killed in a Naxal attack.
Unfazed by the dastardly attack by Maoists, Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh will soon resume its parivartan yatra from Keslur village near Jiram Ghati, the spot where its convoy was ambushed on May 25. Congress workers will pay tribute to the victims including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, former leader of opposition in the assembly Mahendra Karma and former member of legislative assembly Uday Mudliyar among others.
Assessment by security forces suggests the Naxals had reached Sukma in small batches from different states to carry out the attack, reports Gyan Varma
The National Investigation Agency, which will probe the shocking Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, is seeking information about an operative named Gaganna alias Ramesh. The preliminary investigation has revealed that Gaganna was the leader of the operation.
Condemning attack on Congress rally in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for "a policy of zero tolerance" towards terrorism and Naxalism.
The Naxal ambush on a Congress convoy near Darbha on Saturday has kicked off a war between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh. The attack had left 28 dead, including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former leader of the Opposition Mahendra Karma.
The final rites of Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh, who were killed in the Naxal attack on Saturday, were performed with state honours at their native village Nandeli in Raigarh district on Monday.
The Centre has rushed 2,000 additional paramilitary force personnel to Chhattisgarh in the wake of the Naxal attack on Congress leaders that claimed 27 lives, including that of Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nand Kumar Patel.
A Congress leader, who was with former Union minister Vidyacharan Shukla during the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on Saturday, has claimed that the ambush specifically targeted state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and senior leader Mahendra Karma, both of whom died in the strike.
Mahendra Karma, former Chhattisgarh home minister, slain by Naxals along with 26 others, had Z-plus security with 16 armed guards but was accompanied by only six guards when he was attacked.
With the recovery of the bodies, the toll in the lethal Maoist attack on a convoy of Congress leaders on Saturday has climbed to 27, police sources said.
The Communist Party of India - Maoist, which had claimed responsibility for the May 25 attack that left many Chhattisgarh Congress leaders dead, on Thursday denied that the incident had any political link.
An elusive figure, Hidma is a top leader of the outlawed Naxal outfit CPI (Maoist) and has been on the radar of security agencies for many years.
In a major breakthrough, Odisha Police have arrested two suspected Maoists who were accused of being involved in the May 25 deadly attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
Making a strong emotional pitch over the Maoist ambush on Congress leaders in May, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that former Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nand Kumar Patel was killed to stop him from becoming the chief minister and to silence the voice of the poor and the tribals.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to derecognise Congress as a national party, accusing it and its vice president Rahul Gandhi of repeatedly violating the model code of conduct.
Chhattisgarh Congress chief Charan Das Mahant has said he will "sweep the party office with a broom" if asked by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, inviting ridicule from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which called him a "sycophant" who considers his post as that of a "fourth grade" employee.
Communication, dated February 17 to all state governments, said the CPI (Maoist) planned to capture attention once again
On May 25, 2013, Naxals ambushed the Congress leaders' convoy in Jiram valley of Bastar's Darbha region.
Action should be taken against those arrested for alleged Naxal links if there was evidence, he said.
Claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on a Congress convoy, Maoists on Tuesday said their main objective was to "punish" senior party leaders including Nand Kumar Patel and Mahendra Karma for their "anti-people" policies.
The skirmish took place in the wee hours in the restive Dabba-Kunna hills when the joint team of the CRPF and STF was out on an anti-Maoist operation.
The Centre has directed security forces deployed in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to tighten vigil in the three states in view of intelligence reports which suggested that Naxals would try to carry out strikes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
The Union home ministry on Tuesday ruled out involvement of the army in anti-Naxal operations but said more paramilitary forces will be deployed for intensified operations in Maoists-hit areas to flush out the extremists.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday scored a hat-trick of victories in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, winning 49 of 90 seats, thwarting the Congress' bid to wrest power after a decade.
Vidya Charan Shukla, a former union minister and Congress veteran from Chhattisgarh, died on Tuesday in a Gurgaon hospital after battling injuries sustained in a deadly naxal attack on a convoy of party leaders a fortnight ago.
Baghel led from the front to take on the BJP, led by Raman Singh, after being entrusted the task to revive the Congress' fortunes in Chhattisgarh following the third consecutive defeat in the 2013 assembly polls.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre today reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states and directed security forces to foil any attempt by the rebels to disrupt the election process.
Banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist Tuesday claimed responsibility for the massacre of Congress leaders in Bastar region and demanded immediate suspension of all operations against it across the country.
For Mahendra Karma's wife, the November 11 election is a battle to redeem the legacy of the 'Bastar Tiger' who founded the Salwa Judum and was considered a symbol of the tribals' fight back against Maoists before he was killed along with top Chhattisgarh Congress leaders in May.
Rahul Gandhi attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh for its failure to act against Maoists responsible for killing many Congress leaders in May.
Launching a blistering attack on Raman Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Chhattisgarh over law and order situation, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday reminded people of the May 25 Maoist ambush in Bastar that had wiped out almost the entire Congress leadership.
A divided house until recently, Congress is putting up a spirited campaign to checkmate BJP in its erstwhile stronghold of Naxal-dominated Bastar region of Chhattisgarh where the ruling party hopes to cash on its developmental agenda coupled with Chief Minister Raman Singh's clean image in the Assembly elections.
Naxal-hit Bastar, which goes to polls on Monday, is witnessing a stiff political battle with Congress going all out to wrest control from BJP of the region widely seen as a deciding factor in winning Chhattisgarh.
An injured jawan said around 10-12 Naxalites must have got killed in the 'befitting' retaliation by the CRPF contingent.
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