Pathlaiya, September 24:

Maoist central member and former minister for land reforms and management Matrika Yadav today asked landless people to grab the land of landlords and settle there. He was speaking at a programme in Simara today.

Thanking the landless people for their courage to seize the land belonging to Shanti Singh, elder sister of former king Gyanendra, in Simara-2, Yadav said he would retaliate if anybody tried to protest the seizure. He said the campaign to grab the land by the landless would begin from Siraha just like the “people’s revolution” had begun from Rolpa.

Yadav said he had ‘wisely’ directed the landless to make huts in the land seized by Maoist cadres in Siraha after the Home Minister tried to stop them from doing so. The Mirchaiya incident must have opened the eyes of the government, political parties and leaders, Yadav said.

Refuting media reports that he was planning to quit the Maoists and join the group of Jay krishna Goit or form a separate outfit, Yadav said he would struggle from within the party even if the party took action against him. He also flayed the news published about him in Birgunj-based Singhanad daily.

He said a few Maoist leaders of Bhojpura region were trying to grab his position by spreading rumours against him.