‘Coal mafia may be behind ouster’

A Day after Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee shifted Union Minister Karia Munda from the Coal portfolio to Non-Conventional Energy, the Arjun Munda government has decided to grant district status to this subdivisional town.

Karia Munda, however, did not rule out the hand of the coal mafia behind his ouster. Asked whether he suspected anyone to be behind his shifting from the coal ministry, Munda said: ‘‘May be, I don’t rule out mafia hand or any political group as I put a spoke in the wheel of their misdeeds.’’

Asked whether he would accept the new portfolio, a visibly disappointed Munda said: ‘‘Let me first go to New Delhi. Tomorrow I am going to Hyderabad to attend the BJP’s national executive meeting.’’

Residents of this town, represented by Karia Munda in the Lok Sabha, were numbed by the change in portfolio yesterday. Reporters who came here to report the scene found the residents shocked.