Failure of deal led to Hikaka abduction:Congress

"The BJD leadership during the recent Zilla Parishad elections forged a secret deal to secure vote of the CMAS`s lone candidate to form the Zilla Parishad," Harichandan alleged in the assembly. Hikaka was kidnapped by Maoists as the government did not fulfill conditions of the agreement, he claimed and dubbed the BJD regime a "Maoist government" which was responsible for the abduction. Harichandan claimed that Hikaka was among four BJD MLAs besides the BJD MP from Koraput who were signatories to the agreement.

He said the incident was an outcome the BJD`s "unholy" nexus with the CMAS, an organisation banned by the state government in 2006. Asking the chief minister to reply how his party took the help of an organisation allegedly having links with Maoists, he said, "Maoists have abducted two Italian nationals and an MLA besides killing two security personnel in last 15 days. "This is not simply an abduction of an MLA, but abduction of the state`s authority which has knelt down before the Maoists," he said participating in an adjournment motion on `MLA abducted, Does Government exist?`.

Harichandan also alleged that non-fulfilment of government`s earlier promises to Maoists during the abduction of former Malkangiri district collector R Vineel Krishna, was another reason behind the abductions in the state. Krishna was abducted by Maoists in February last year and the government had agreed to fulfill their 14 point charter of demands. "We demand a reply from the government on how many of the 14 agreements were met," Harichandan said.