Smoke billows on a Jamshedpur street after Congress activists set tyres on fire during a bandh. Picture by Srinivas

March 5: The clamour for President’s rule in Jharkhand grew today with two Congress MPs joining the BJP in demanding the dismissal of the Madhu Koda government following the assassination of Jamshedpur MP Sunil Mahto.

The Koda government is supported by the Congress.

Eyewitness accounts held that the assailants stood on the body of the slain MP and raised slogans in favour of the CPI (Maoist).

As many as 14 bullets had been pumped into him from close range as he watched a football match at Baguria, 40 km from Jamshedpur.

Union home secretary V.K. Duggal said in New Delhi the assassination was in retaliation to the state government’s crackdown on the banned outfit.

Others linked it to the MP’s active support extended to the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti (NSS), a vigilante group armed by the state to take on the Naxalites in the area.

Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in Jamshedpur that a final decision on a “CBI inquiry”, as requested by the state government, would be taken in a day or two.

But he scoffed at speculation on imposition of President’s rule, which was demanded during the day by two Congress MPs.

Subodh Kant Sahay, Union minister of state for food processing, who accompanied Jaiswal, kept the suspense alive by accusing the government of lacking in “administrative zeal”.

While the Congress supports the Koda government, he added, the party “will not remain mute spectators to what is happening in Jharkhand. Both SPs and MPs are getting killed. We will not allow this to continue here”.

The motive for the assassination appeared more complex as the JMM smelt a “political conspiracy” behind the killing. Even other parties hinted at the possibility of infighting within the JMM leading to the killing.

A section within the JMM claimed the MP had incurred the wrath of the Maoists by refusing to pay levy for the large number of contracts that he and his supporters had bagged in the area.

Sources claimed that the MP did not inform police of his movement. The police are also trying to establish why he took along with him to the match only four of the 12 armed guards at his disposal.

Not that it would have made much of a difference, judging by the way the commandos were overpowered and killed. All the four or five commandos with the MP — confusion prevails about the figure — apparently stood behind him and were watching the football match.

The Maoists, who had mingled with the spectators, crept up from behind and overpowered them without resistance.

Some witnesses claimed that the two commandos who got killed had tried to escape after losing their weapons. Police acknowledged deficiencies in training while admitting that the commandos’ inability to fire even a single retaliatory shot had shocked them.

More intriguing is the claim of the organisers that the football final had been reduced to a 40-minute affair (from 90 minutes) because the MP arrived late and light was fading. There were 4,000-5,000 spectators.