Top BJP leaders will on Tuesday visit the family of slain Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and former legislator Mahendra Karma, who along with their party colleagues were killed in a Naxal attack in Sukma district of the Tribal State on Saturday afternoon.
The party also demanded a Supreme Court monitored SIT probe into the incident. “The probe into the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh should be conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) monitored by the Supreme Court,” BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
Singh along with leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, general secretary JP Nadda and joint organisational secretary Saudan Singh will meet the families of Karma and Patel in their respective villages on Tuesday.
“They will also visit hospitals in Raipur and Jagdalpur to meet those, including security personnel, who were injured in the Naxal attack,” BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar told reporters after a meeting of Party’s Parliamentary Board here.
BJP leaders present in the meeting took stock of the situation in Chhattisgarh and denounced the attack on the leadership of rival Congress.
“Country is facing a grave Naxal problem. like in the case of terror, we should stand united in dealing with the Maoist menace,” Ananth Kumar said, adding, “The BJP does not want to get involved in a blame game.” Rajnath Singh said, “Naxalism is not a simple law and order problem. It is a problem pertaining to internal security of the country.”
BJP’s response came on a day the Congress blamed the State Government for security lapses and not making proper security arrangements. Incidentally, the BJP had on Sunday decided to suspend its proposed Jail Bharo campaign against the Congress after the Saturday attack.