Scrap IPL, demands Maoist leader Kishenji

Maoists on Saturday called for a 48-hour bandh in five states from May 18 to protest against a slew of decisions taken by the Centre, including those concerning some public sector units. The bandh call has been given in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.

"Maoists will observe a bandh on May 18 and May 19 in the five states to protest against the Centre's decision to sell ten per cent government's stake in 10 profit-making PSUs," top Maoist leader Kishenji said from an undisclosed location.

Breaking his silence after three months, since reports of his injuries sustained during operations by security forces in Hatiloth forest near Lalgarh surfaced in March, he claimed that he has been 'well all along'.

"I have been well and now I am speaking with you as before," he told a PTI correspondent.

Kishenji said the Communist Party of India - Maoist was against handing over 15,000 acre land to steel maker Posco in Orissa and favoured subsidies to the oil companies to keep the rate of petroleum products stable.

The elusive Maoist leader made a slew of other demands including scrapping the IPL cricket tournament.

He accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union ministers P Chidambaram, Praful Patel and Sharad Pawar of being involved in a 'scam' about the popular cricket event.

He also demanded action against the politicians involved in the telecom spectrum allocation scam.

The politburo member of the CPI-Maoist said they were against dilution of government stake in state-owned banks 'to favour the entry of international banks like Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Deutsche Bank'.

Kishenji's bandh call and demands come a day after Maoists killed four Communist Party of India - Marxist supporters and one party worker in the Naxal stronghold of jungle mahal area in West Bengal.