Chhattisgarh Congress secretary accuses party of masterminding massacre of it's leaders

RAIPUR: In an apparent frustration over denial of ticket, Chhattisgarh Congress secretary, Shiv Narayan Diwedi, on Tuesday resigned from the party while accusing it of “masterminding” the killing of it’s own leaders in the Darbha (Bastar) massacre.
While Diwedi’s statement has put the Congress on the defensive, the BJP has seized the opportunity to gain political mileage and demanded that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the massacre, should take cognizance of these remarks.Diwedi, who was not available for comments, reportedly made this statement in Delhi and had claimed that Maoists were given ‘supari’ (contract) to carry out the killings.
Diwedi has accused the PCC president, Charan Das Mahant, and CLP Leader, Ravinder Chaubey, of being part of the “sinister conspiracy” to kill the senior party leaders. He has said that both these leaders were aware of the impending Maoist attack and had purposely kept a distance from the ill-fated convey on the fateful day of May 25. Sources close to Diwedi claimed that he has also resigned from the party.
Expressing surprise at Diwedi’s statement, state Congress spokesperson, Sushil Shukla, said Diwedi was a contender for the assembly seat of Raipur (West) and denial of ticket was the reason for his outburst. “If there is an iota of truth in what he has said, why had he kept mum for the last five months,” said Shukla dismissing the statement as “rants of a frustrated” leader. He claimed that though Diwedi had resigned as the campaign in-charge of Raipur (West), he is still with the Congress.
The BJP has however claimed that Diwedi’s remarks were “serious” and they exposed the political conspiracy behind the Maoist attack. BJP spokesperson, Sanjay Srivastava, told reporters that since Diwedi was an eyewitness to the massacre, his claims could not be dismissed.
“Congress has a history of hatching political conspiracies before election to gain mileage and the massacre was a part to it”, he said adding that Diwedi had blurted out the truth. He also accused of Maoists being in hand-in-glove with the Congress.