A Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leader was killed on Saturday in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district allegedly by Naxalites, a police official has said.
Vice president of the BJP’s Narayanpur district unit and the area’s Assembly convenor, Ratan Dubey, was killed by stabbing in the market at Kaushalnagar village while he was promoting the Assembly elections, which are set for November 7 and 17.
The official said that a police team had hurried to the scene and that they were making attempts to apprehend those responsible.
Condoling the killing, BJP leader Om Mathur in a message on X, formerly Twitter said, “I am deeply saddened by the brutal murder of Chhattisgarh BJP’s Narayanpur Assembly convenor and Narayanpur district vice president Ratan Dubey ji by Naxalites during the campaign. The entire party condemns this cowardly incident.”
The incident has coincided with allegations of “targeted killings” of its workers in the run-up to the elections made by the opposition BJP.
Suspected Maoists shot and killed BJP worker Birju Taram on October 20 in Sarkheda village, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district.
November 7th will see elections for 20 Assembly seats, including Narayanpur. On November 17, the 90-member House will hold its second round of polling, and on December 3, the votes will be tallied.