Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Fearing a possible Naxal strike, the Home Ministry on Tuesday advised West Bengal government to increase the security cover of VVIPs including that of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
An alert was sent by the Home Ministry to West Bengal government citing security concerns of the VVIPs.
The alert comes days after around 150 Naxals in Chattisgarh attacked a convoy of Congress leaders and workers in which 27 people were killed including Congress leader Mahendra Karma, PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar and injuring 32 others, including former union minister VC Shukla.
The Maoists on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the deadly May 25 attack on a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh. It further states that senior Congress leaders Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and VC Shukla were the main targets of the attack.
The Maoists claimed that their purpose was to "punish" Mahendra Karma who had launched the anti-Naxal armed movement Salwa Judum.
In the letter Maoists claimed they regret killing some "innocent" Congress functionaries in the attack, but put the blame on state Chief Minister Raman Singh, the Congress and the BJP for their "anti-people policies" which led to the attack.
The Centre has already deployed 30 battalion (approximately 30,000 personnel) in Chhattisgarh to help the state government carry out anti-Naxal operations.
