Raipur: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has put off his visit this week to the Maoist-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh where he wished to spend a night with a tribal family as the state government has refused to take care of his security, a party official said Monday.

State Congress chief Charandas Mahant told newspersons that Gandhi's two-day Chhattisgarh tour, minus Dantewada, would begin from Friday.

The young Congress MP, who is visiting various states under the `Discover India' tour, especially tribal and Scheduled Castes pockets, will spend April 25 night somewhere in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, which is partially affected by the Maoist menace.

"Gandhi wanted to visit Dantewada during his two-day tour of the tribal stronghold in Chhattisgarh this week, but his plans have been put off because the state government refused to provide security,'' Mahant told reporters. He was addressing a press conference along with Youth Congress national president Ashok Tanwar.

According to his revised tour schedule, Gandhi will spend Friday in one of the five northern tribal-predominated districts - Jashpur, Surguja, Korea, Raigarh or Korba.

However, he will spend the night in the southern district of Kanker. The Congress leaders declined to reveal the exact location of the Congress MP's night halt due to security reasons. He will travel to Bastar on Saturday.

Congress leaders said that Gandhi will interact with tribal people and spend the night with a tribal family in Chhattisgarh.

Dantewada is located in the state's extreme south, close to the Andhra Pradesh border, where the Maoist militants have been runing a de facto ádministration for years in the forested interiors.

The armed insurgents have staged several cold-blooded killings of police and civilians in the district since the launch of a government-backed civil militia movement - Salwa Judum - in June 2005.

 

Source : IANS