Congress lok Sabha candidate from Bastar Deepak Karma says he will force the ruling BJP Government to build a memorial in the name of his late father and Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma in Maoist hotbed Bastar.
Mahendra Karma was among other State-level senior Congress leaders, who were martyred in the May 25 Maoist attack on a Congress party convoy in Jeeram valley last year.
“People in the entire Bastar region knew my father so well for his relentless fight for their rights and well being. Now I want a memorial built in the name of my late father which would act as an inspiration for the tribal people to work for the benefit of Bastar region”, he told The Pioneer over telephone while on a campaign tour in the region.
Karma said that he would never let the invaluable contribution made by his late father for the development of Chhattisgarh fade away. “For now as a lok Sabha candidate, I also have a set of goals for ensuring progress of the people in Bastar”.
“The prime goal in my mind is to get the public sector National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) shift its headquarters from Hyderabad to Bastar because it is this region (Bastar) which draws the most minerals”, he said.
Karma said that the other biggest agenda in his mind if elected from the region would be that the Railways recruit only locals against job vacancies as most of the posts in Bastar are getting filled by people from neighbouring States such as Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
On his rival candidate from Aam Aadmi Party ‘Soni Sori’ contesting from Bastar, he remarked, “There was no need for her to leave a school teacher’s job. She had now been accused of colluding with the Naxals”.
He said that getting full benefit of the Centre’s policies for Bastar for its people would remain his agenda if elected as an MP from the region.