Marandi to go ahead with fast from tomorrow

Ranchi, May 16 (UNI) With internal squabbles getting more prominent in BJP's Jharkhand unit, party's national vice-president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi will go on with his 24-hour hunger strike tomorrow in protest against rise in extremism in the state.

Mr Marandi's decision to go ahead with the agitation, which he termed as a fight for the cause of Bharat Mata, assumed significance after BJP's central emissary Sanjay Joshi's tour of the state. He returned to New Delhi this afternoon after gathering the required inputs from different levels of the party functionaries here.

Mr Joshi, the party's national general secretary, last night had a closed door meeting with Mr Marandi the details of which were kept secret.

Last evening the former Chief Minister addressed a press conference at his official residence where he announced to launch a stir and accused the party leadership of not listening to him on many important issues regarding the State.

Mr Marandi said his fast would be staged at Setwand in Giridih district to draw the Centre's and the State Government's attention to insurgency problem in the State.

He justified the choice of venue saying a major portion of his parliamentary constituency Kodarma is naxalite-dominated and attributed it to under development of the area.

He said many blocks of Giridih district share 70 km stretch with Bihar which is also marked by thick jungles.

''I have chosen a backward place to highlight my agenda,'' Mr Marandi had said.

He said insurgency was not only a problem of Jharkhand but of the whole country, adding 18 of the total 22 districts in his state were naxalite-dominated.

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