Raipur: The Jhiram Maoist attack on May 25, 2013 that has wiped out 29 people and Congress leaders including Nand Kumar Patel, Mahendra Karma, Vidya Charan Shukla and Uday Mudliyar in Chhattisgarh, the only one survivor in the Maoist attack was Konta MLA Kawasi Lakhma is now made a Minister after 5 years and a NIA probe into the alleged conspiracy matter.
61-year-old Lakhma from Konta was made minister in the new Chhattisgarh Cabinet on December 25 and is assigned the exercise and industry portfolio.
Even that went ahead with controversies of him having no proper formal schooling, with his inability to read or write has already become the talk of the town.
But finally, all’s well that ends well, Lakhma finally took the oath after Governor Anandiben Patel on December 26 amid all the controversies of his abilities.
When the minister was asked on how he intends to read files as minister, he said he had successfully functioned in the Assembly for 20 years, and was Deputy Leader of Opposition. “God has given me brains… I will work for poor and marginalised people and represent their interests,” Lakhma said.
Minister Lakhma was born to an Adivasi family in Nagaras which is 20 km away from the district headquarters of Sukma, one of the districts most affected by Left-wing extremism in the country, Indian Express reports.
Lakhman entered politics in the late eighties and contested from Konta in 1998 as his first Assembly election as a Congress candidate. He defeated popular CPI leader Manish Kunjam, who had until then dominated the region.