In what could prove to be a self-goal for the Congress party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Congress leader and spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the naxals killed in the encounter in Chhattisgarh as Shaheed ("martyrs"). The Congress leader was questioned about the encounter in which 29 naxals were killed in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday (April 16), in what is one of the biggest operations against the naxals in recent times.
Replying to the question by a journalist who asked the Congress spokesperson if the party was playing politics over the issue, the Congress leader said that the party didn't want to do any politics over the issue. However, she added that the encounter should be investigated.
She extended her condolences to the shaheeds (martyrs) killed in the encounter and the security officials injured in the encounter.
Earlier, IG Bastar P Sundarraj had said that the autopsy of the bodies was on and that a large cache of arms and ammunition had been recovered from the Naxal cadre killed in the encounter.
"Yesterday, an encounter broke out between security forces and Naxalites, which lasted for around 4 hours...Teams of DRG and BSF cordoned off the area and as a result, 29 CPI Maoist bodies were recovered, out of which 15 were female and 14 were male. Arms and ammunition were recovered in large quantities from the spot. The autopsy of the bodies of the Maoists is underway," IG Sundarraj said.
Supriya Shrinate in the news for wrong reasons
This is not the first time that Congress leader Supriya Shrinate is in news for the wrong reasons of late. Recently, after Kangana Ranaut was announced as BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, the Congress leader's purported post on Instagram has kicked up a political storm.
In a post on Instagram that had gone viral, the Congress leader's handle had put up a post with Kangana's image and a derogatory caption referring to the "rate card" in Mandi.
