Jharkhand situation 'gloomy': Congress

Ranchi, April 29: The Congress today (April 29) hinted that Jharkhand is a fit case for President's rule following the twin police firing incidents that left the state in a "gloomy situation".

"All signs show to that," AICC spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here, not giving a direct reply to a query if there was any chance of imposition of President's rule for the third time in the state.

"Everything depended on the Governor's report and any recommendations made to the Centre," said Ahmed, who is also the Congress in-charge for Jharkhand affairs.

Ahmed was more specific about the prevailing situation in Jharkhand which he termed as "gloomy" in the wake of the back-to-back police firing incidents in Dhanbad and Ranchi that claimed six lives and left several persons injured.

Rajbhavan sources said Governor M O H Farook and his Principal Secretary Sudhir Kumar Tripathi were now in Delhi, but neither denied nor confirmed if any report to the Centre had been submitted in the wake of Wednesday's police firing during an anti-encroachment drive in Dhanbad's Matkoria.

"Chief Minister Arjun Munda has become insensitive to the volatile situation due to the anti-encroachment drive. His government puts the onus on the high court for the ongoing drive, but the court has never called for razing down houses without rehabilitating the affected families," Ahmed said.

While four persons died in the firing in Dhanbad, in a similar protest two died at Islam Nagar in Ranchi on April 5.

Ahmed said Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and AJSU should take equal responsibility for the killings on the streets of Jharkhand "in the garb of" anti-encroachment drive as they share power with the BJP-led government.

"They cannot be mute spectators to the death of civilians in police firing," he said, adding that the government should not have demolished dwellings of families who had been living there for 20 to 50 years.

PTI