At least 64 district politicians in one of India's poorest states have resigned en masse, citing threats from Maoist insurgents, officials said on Monday. Officials from the National Democratic Alliance in the eastern state of Bihar quit their party posts on Sunday after 37 of them were kidnapped and then released last week by insurgents, who accused them of failing to check police abuses on local inhabitants. “Many of them have cited threats to their lives as reasons behind their resignations,” senior government official Deonandan Prasad Sinha told Reuters from Gaya, a district a few hours drive south of the state capital Patna. Thousands of tourists visit Gaya every year to see where Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment under a pipal tree.
