Left MPs to visit riot-hit areas in Orissa

A three-member delegation of the Left Front MPs will leave for Orissa tonight and would undertake an on-the-spot study of the situation in the riot-torn areas.

CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta on Sunday demanded a ban on the Bajrang Dal in the wake of communal violence in Orissa.

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"The incidents had tarnished the secular image of the country," he said and demanded a judicial probe into the alleged failure of law enforcement agencies to protect lives of Christians.

He said that a three-member delegation of the Left Front MPs will leave for Orissa tonight and would undertake an on-the-spot study of the situation in the riot-torn areas.

Apart for Dasgupta, it will include CK Chandrappan of CPI and Tapan Sen of CPI-M.

Dasgupta said they would try to meet Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik before going to Delhi where they would brief Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Fourteen people have died in the communal violence in Kandhamal after a VHP leader Laxamanananda Saraswati was gunned down along with three others on August 23.