Patna: LJP chief Ramvilas Paswan Friday
accused Nitish Kumar government in Bihar of "failing" to handle the crisis arising out of the kidnapping of policemen
after the encounter with Maoists in Lakhisarai district and
appealed to the ultras to release the innocent personnel.
"Nitish Kumar government is responsible for spread of the
activities of the Maoists from originally six districts to 25
districts now... it has failed to handle the crisis
created by the ultras," Paswan told reporters here.
Asking the state government to come out with the details
of what had gone wrong that led to Maoists killing innocent
policemen and kidnapping of four others, Paswan said reports
suggested that "unarmed" policemen were deployed at the time
of encounter near Kajra on Sunday.
Most securitymen involved in the encounter were "unarmed
and untrained" he said and added that "it seems that policemen
went there not to fight the Maoists but to arrest petty
criminals."
"It is the state government which is responsible for the
deaths," he said, and asked Nitish Kumar to explain as to what
were the initiatives he took to handle the situation.
"Kumar sat idle since Sunday and all of a sudden made a
plea yesterday for talks with the Maoists... the talks could
have been held much earlier," he said.
The spread of Maoist terror in Bihar had exposed the
claim by Chief Minister that the state was on the path of development, Paswan alleged.
Had the development taken place at all, the fruits of it
would have percolated down to the poor and it would have come
handy in checking the growing menace of naxalism, he said.
PTI
