BJP to raise Sunil Mahto killing in Parliament

New Delhi, Mar 5 (UNI) Blaming the UPA government at the Centre for handling terror-related problems with kidgloves, the BJP today said it would raise the killing of JMM MP Sunil Mahto by Naxals at Jamshedpur in Parliament.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra claimed the UPA was openly courting Naxals in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Asom for the sake of vote banks and these elements were dominating in around 150-odd districts.

The soft handling of terror activities by the UPA governments, both at the Centre and states, has emboldened extremists to attack and kill political personalities. ''We strongly condemn the killing and demand the government handle all such violence sternly,'' he said.

Mr Malhotra said the BJP had been raising the issue in Parliament cautioning against soft-pedalling of Maoist-Naxal violence or terrorism by fundamentalist Muslim forces. This was the result of their connivance with anti-national forces, in the name of the so-called ''healing touch'', he felt.

UNI