Congress likely to appoint new Chhattisgarh PCC chief this week

NEW DELHI: Congress is likely to appoint a new PCC chief this week for Chhattisgarh where the party's setup was dented by the recent Naxal attack which claimed lives of several top leaders.

State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and senior leader Mahendra Karma were among the party leaders killed in the Naxal attack in Bastar on May 25.

Party sources said the ashes of slain leaders Patel, Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar will be immersed in Triveni in Allahabad in next two days after which the name of the new PCC chief can be announced any day.

Meanwhile, AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad and T S Singhdeo, in-charge of Congress Parivartan Yatra, dismissed as "baseless" and "mischievous" the talk of any last minute change of route by the Congress leaders on May 25.

They distributed copies of the letters given to authorities as well as their replies regarding security arrangements for the leaders.

Heavily armed Maoists had ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Bastar district on Saturday, killing 27 people including Patel, Karma Mudliyar, besides leaving 37 others including former Union Minister V C Shukla injured.

The sources said the Parivartan Yatra will continue and the party will take steps to boost up the morale of its cadres hit by the gruesome incident.