Naxal ambush: It's a cold blooded murder, says Rajnath

Raipur, Apr 25: Home minister Rajnath Singh today described as "a cold-blooded murder" the Naxalite attack on a CRPF patrol that killed 25 men in Chattisgarh. Singh, who paid homage to the CRPF personnel at a wreath-laying ceremony at the headquarters of the 4th battalion of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force in the Mana camp area, said it was a "cowardly" act. Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon, Chief Minister Raman Singh, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir and senior state and paramilitary officials were also present at the ceremony.

Singh said the attack was part of a campaign by naxals to counter the development work being carried out by the Centre and the state government. He said a strategy to tackle Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) would be reviewed and revised during a high-level meeting to be held in New Delhi on May 8. "This is an act of desperation. We have accepted this as a challenge. We will review our LWE strategy and revise it, if required," the minister, who also held a meeting with the chief minister and senior officials of the state, told reporters.

He described the incident as a "cold blooded murder"and accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield. "The sacrifices of our brave jawans will not go in vain," he said, adding that "the Naxals are frustrated with the development of roads in Bastar region." The home minister said that Naxalites were the "biggest enemies" of tribal and poor people in the area and were against any development. "But they will not succeed in their evil designs," he said, asserting that the Centre and the state would work together to fight them.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh too called the attack "condemnable" and said that development work as well as anti-naxal operations will continue unabated. "We will increase our development activities as well as strengthen our operation," he said. The home minister said that yesterday's incident was the outcome of "frustration" among the rebels because of the ongoing anti-Naxal operations being carried out by security forces.

The attack yesterday took place when a 100-strong CRPF patrol was providing security for road construction work in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. In the fierce gunfire from Maoist guerrillas occupying vantage positions, at least 25 CRPF personnel were killed and seven wounded.

The Naxalites mounted the assault in the Kalapathar area of south Bastar region, where Left-Wing extremism is rampant. This was the deadliest guerrilla attack on security forces in the state so far this year.

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At 75 next year, Modi will make Amit Shah PM if BJP wins polls, claims Kejriwal

News Network

May 11,2024

Out of jail and immediately hitting the campaign trail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday trained guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming that he will make way for Amit Shah next year when he turns 75 after sidelining all BJP leaders, including Yogi Adityanath, and jailing Opposition leaders.

Predicting that the BJP will be reduced to “220-230 seats” in the Lok Sabha polls, he claimed that Yogi Adityanath will be removed as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in two months if at all BJP returns to power to ensure Shah’s elevation as Prime Minister, as Modi himself has set the 75-year retirement rule in his party.

Accusing Modi of being dictatorial and seeking to implement ‘One Nation, One Leader’, Kejriwal insisted that the Prime Minister is not seeking votes for himself and people voting for BJP should know that they are not voting for Modi but Shah while wondering whether the latter would implement ‘Modi ki Guarantees’.

He also defended his decision not to resign as Chief Minister after his arrest, as it was a “trap” set by the Prime Minister to “finish off” AAP and felt that JMM top leader Hemant Soren, who resigned as Jharkhand Chief Minister, also should not have quit his post.

Addressing a press conference that turned out to be a meeting of AAP supporters at the party headquarters here a day after he was released from Tihar jail on interim bail, he also asked Modi to “learn from Kejriwal on how to fight corruption”, as he referred to the induction of leaders who were accused of graft into the BJP.

In his 20-minute address, which came after his visit to the Hanuman Temple in Connaught Place in the national capital, Kejriwal said Modi wants to crush his party as he knows that the AAP with its good work would replace the BJP.

If Modi does 'good work', no one will talk about AAP but people will not accept the attempts to decimate his party, which is working for the people, Kejriwal said.

“The Prime Minister says he fights against corruption but is inducting thieves and dacoits into his party. A leader who he described as one involved in a Rs 70,000 crore scam was inducted into the party ten days after Modi made the charges. If you want to fight corruption, learn from Kejriwal,” he said, citing instances of sacking and arrests of AAP ministers in Delhi and Punjab.

Warning that Opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav, NK Stalin and Uddhav Thackeray will be jailed by Narendra Modi if BJP wins, he said his arrest was meant to be a message to the country that if Kejriwal can be taken into custody, then anybody can be.

“People need to know, his mission's name is 'One Nation, One Leader'. To achieve this, there are two ways. One is to jail all Opposition leaders and the second is to sideline all leaders in BJP if they win. They have already sidelined L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan who brought BJP back to power in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje, ML Khattar…” Kejriwal said.

“Who is next in line? It is Yogi Adityanath. Take it in writing from me, if BJP wins, the UP Chief Minister will be changed in two months...He wants to crush democracy in this country. I am fighting against it," he said.

Referring to questions on who will be I.N.D.I.A. bloc's Prime Ministerial candidate, he said he has a counter question as Modi is turning 75 next September and he himself has set the retirement rule in the party.

“Now my question is who is BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate? If they can form the government, Yogi Adityanath will be first sidelined and then Amit Shah will be made the Prime Minister. Modiji is not seeking votes for him but for Amit Shah. Who will fulfil Modi's guarantees? Will Amit Shah fulfil it? I don't think they are going to form a government. But those who are going to vote for BJP should know that they are voting for Amit Shah,” he said.

Insisting that I.N.D.I.A. bloc will form the next government and that AAP will be part of it, Kejriwal promised full statehood for Delhi in such a dispensation. Emphasising that he did not resign when he was arrested because Modi had scripted it to finish off the party, he said he wanted to show that if democracy was jailed, it would run from jail.

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