Congress workers call bandh, protest Naxal attack on party leaders

RAIPUR: Congress workers today disrupted rail and road servcies during the day-long bandh called by the party in Chhattisgarh to press for the dismissal of the BJP government in the wake of deadly Maoist attack.

The bandh has also been called to demand imposition of President's rule in the state following alleged breakdown in law and order, Chhattisgarh Congress media cell president Shailesh Trivedi had said yesterday.

In support of the day-long bandh, the party workers disrupted road and rail traffic in several parts of the state.

Congressmen stopped movement of trains in Raigarh, the home district of state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, who was killed in the attack. The agitating workers also ransacked the PWD rest house of Kharsiya, the native place of Patel, police said.

While private buses and autorickshaws went off the roads, all shops and business establishments remained closed in several prominent cities including Raipur, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Korba and others.

Medical shops and hospitals were kept out of the purview of bandh.

Heavily-armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in Chattisgarh's Sukma district yesterday, killing 27 people including senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, and injuring senior leader V C Shukla and 31 others.