A Madhya Pradesh Congress leader was killed in Umaria and a National Students Union of India (NSUI) member was shot at in Bhopal on Monday night.
Surprisingly, the Congress issued no formal statement of condemnation although Leader of the Opposition Satyadev Katare accused Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan of protecting the assailants, when he spoke to The Hindu.
Umaria District Congress Committee General Secretary Antaraj Singh was shot several times by unidentified gunmen while returning from a temple. An Umaria police source said that he died on the spot and that no suspects have been identified yet.
In Bhopal, NSUI leader Zafar Naqvi is recovering from gunshot wounds he received when assailants barged into his home and fired shots at him. Naqvi, who has a bullet lodged near his left kidney, was not in a position to give a statement to the police.
Mr. Katare said, “The CM is not stopping his party men from targeting the Congress before the polls. In fact, he is protecting these murderers. The Election Commission should enforce the law as the State Government has failed to do so.” A statement had not yet been put out as the details were still unclear, he explained.
An NSUI source told this paper that the Bhopal attack was most probably due to personal rivalry rather than political motive. “The party is not raising a hue and cry as we don’t know what the circumstances were that led to this violence,” he said.
