New Delhi, May 28
The Congress today trained it guns on Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and demanded his resignation for his government’s alleged failure to provide adequate security cover to party leaders, who were killed in a deadly Maoist attack on May 25. The BJP, on the other hand, was firming up strategy to counter Congress offensive.

As many as 27 persons, including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and prominent leader Mahendra Karma, were killed in the audacious attack on a party convoy in Bastar.

“Raman Singh should step down. The irresponsible attitude of the state government has led to a huge loss to democratic values and the Chief Minister should resign admitting the security lapse” said party spokesperson Bhaktacharan Das said.

Through a set of posers, Das said it was surprising that why Karma, a former Home Minister in Chhattisgarh and who was on the hit list of Maoists, was not given adequate security cover. Karma was entitled to Z category security, he said. The state government should clarify whether it had received an intelligence input about the possibility of an attack, said Das.

AICC general secretary BK Hari Prasad, who is in charge of party affairs in the state, said a few days ago the BJP had held a Vikas Yatra in the Bastar region under heavy security. “Why the security wasn’t of the same scale during the Congress’ Parivartan Yatra,” he asked.

Alleging that Bastar region has become a "victim of crony capitalism", Das said industrial groups in the area were encouraging Naxalism by funding them heavily to keep the local people under an atmosphere of fear.

The BJP is preparing a plan to rein in the possible political fallout of the incident in the poll-bound Chhattisgarh.

Senior BJP leaders are visiting the state to pay condolences to families of the slain leaders. So far, BJP leaders have decided to act with restraint against the Congress’ onslaught against Raman Singh and his government.

“This is not the right time to indulge in political one-upmanship. We are a political party and will give a befitting reply with proofs when the time is right,” they said. The BJP also accused Congress leaders of ignoring standard operating procedures and warning signals by the authorities.

Asking the Congress not to politicise the issue, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said: “The Congress should be cautious while levelling the allegations.”

Clearly, the saffron party is worried over the way the Congress is gunning for Raman Singh. The topmost decision making body of the BJP--- the Parliamentary Board --- held an emergency meeting yesterday to take stock of the emerging political situation in the state.

The party is banking on Chhattisgarh majorly to reverse the trend of poll failures that it faced in Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and, more recently, Karnataka.