Ch'garh Cong chief, son found dead; PM, Sonia visit state

Bullet-riddled bodies of abducted Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son and eight others were today found in Bastar,a day after the brazen Maoist strike on a Congress convoy that has sparked national outrage with leaders condemning it as an attack on democracy.

The bodies of Patel, his son Dinesh and eight others, mainly security personnel, were recovered from Jiram valley in Bastar division, police said. With this, the toll in Saturday's attack has risen to 27.

Rattled by the incident in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, top leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the state.

Asserting that the country will never bow before Naxalism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was addressing party workers at Congress Bhavan here said, "We will pursue the perpetrators of this crime with urgency and I can assure the nation that the Government is committed to bringing them to justice."

"Our leaders... Have sacrificed their lives. However, our country will never bow down before Naxalism," he said.

Sonia appreciated the courage and bravery of the leaders after visiting the injured in hospital.

"This is a cowardly act on the part of Maoists. It is not an attack on Congress or its leaders, but an attack on democratic values," she said while expressing grief at the loss of lives.

Rahul, who arrived here in the wee hours, said, "It is not an attack on Congress. It is an attack on democracy. But, we'll not fear from such an attack and continue to move forward."

Former union minister V C Shukla, who was injured in the attack, was airlifted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on Delhi's outskirts from Raipur early this morning.

Doctors said that the condition of 84-year-old Shukla was critical. A number of political leaders, including PM, Sonia and L K Advani visited the hospital. The former union minister yesterday underwent an operation in Jagdalpur hospital for removal of three bullets he had received in the attack.

The Prime Minister announced Rs 5 lakh each as ex-gratia relief from the National Relief Fund for families of those killed and Rs 50,000 each for those injured.

Senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar were among 27 killed while Shukla and 31 others were injured when heavily-armed Maoists ambushed a convoy of party leaders inside a dense forest near National Highway 202 connecting Chhattisgarh with Naxal-hit Bhadrachalam district in adjacent Andhra Pradesh.