Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
Terming the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh as a 'holocaust', Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the ultras resorted to such acts as they felt threatened with the pace of development work.
Asserting that the country will never bow down before Naxalism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said government will pursue the perpetrators of the crime with urgency and is committed to bringing them to justice.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh will resume his 'Vikas Yatra' from August 17 which was suspended in the wake of the deadly Naxal attack on Congress convoy on May 25.
Cries of 'Jai Hind' rent the air as a large number of people bid a final adieu to Colonel Viplav Tripathi, his wife and five-year-old son, who were killed in a terrorist attack in Manipur two days ago, in their hometown Raigarh in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
The Congress has demanded immediate removal of the nodal officer appointed by Chhattisgarh government to assist National Investigation Agency probing the Darbha valley Maoist attack in which senior Congress leaders were killed on May 25.
On May 25, 2013, Naxals ambushed the Congress leaders' convoy in Jiram valley of Bastar's Darbha region.
The face-off between a compact team of District Reserve Group and ultras took place in the forested hills of Metapal village, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.
In May 2013, Naxalites ambushed a Congress party's convey on the Darba ghats killing 31 people. R Krishna Das revisits the spot a year later
In a case of abject apathy towards the kin of a martyred soldier, the Chhattisgarh police demanded the return of Rs 10,000 it has provided to the family of a martyred special police officer for his last rites.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
The results, while bringing the Congress back to power in this state, also end the rule of the 66-year-old BJP stalwart, who has earned several monikers during his 15-year-long tenure -- Doctor saheb being a trained Ayurvedic medical practitioner, chaur wale baba for his popular rice scheme and the 'Mobile Wale Baba' for giving free smartphones to 50 lakh women and students.
Around 30 per cent polling was recorded till noon on Tuesday in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts of Chhattisgarh where voting for the second and last phase of Assembly polls is underway.
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