Raipur: Chhattisgarh government has provided security cover to 43 BJP leaders in Leftwing extremism-hit Bastar in the state in the wake of sudden spate of killing of ruling party leaders in the region in recent times.
The development comes three days after a local leader in Bijapur district under south Bastar in Chhattisgarh made an appeal to Union home minister Amit Shah to provide them security following the killing of two BJP leaders within a span of a week in the current month in the district.
The 43 BJP leaders will be provided security under categories of Y, Y+ and X considering the scale of threat perception to the individual leaders from Maoists, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
The Chhattisgarh police will arrange security for each of these 43 BJP leaders as per their assigned categories of security cover, the police officer said.
These leaders hailed from districts of Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Bastar, Kanker and Narayanpur under Bastar division in the state.
Two of the 43 BJP leaders, given security cover by Chhattisgarh police, are women.
Kamala Nag, former chairperson of local zilla panchayat of Dantewada district under Bastar in the state, has been given X category security.
Similarly, Monica Shah, general secretary of Bijapur district unit of BJP, has also been given X category security.
Sukma district BJP unit president Dhaniram Barse has been given the highest level of Y+ security cover among them.
Of the 43 BJP leaders who have been provided security, six are from Sukma district, ten from Bijapur district, 17 from Dantewada district, four from Jagdalpur, headquarters of Bastar, one from Kondagaon district, four from Kanker district and one from Narayanpur district.
In his recent letter to Mr Shah, president of Bijapur district unit of BJP Srinivas Mudaliar said that many party leaders have fled the district due to the threats to their life by the Maoists and urged him to provide security to the leaders who are in the hit-list of Naxals in Bastar.
Congress media wing chief here Sushil Anand Shukla has however demanded security to the leaders of all the political parties in Bastar who faced threat to their lives from Maoists.
