Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren will not attend the meeting of four Maoist-affected States in Kolkata on Tuesday due to illness, Deputy Chief Minister Raghuvar Das said here.
“(Deputy Chief Minister) Sudesh Mahto and myself will represent Guruji (Shibu Soren), who is indisposed,” Mr. Das told PTI.
At the meeting, “we will suggest strong infrastructure development to deal with extremism,” Mr. Das said.
After arriving in Kolkata, Mr. Das told reporters at the airport that the Jharkhand government will do everything possible to tackle the Maoist problem.
He also dismissed the claims of West Bengal government that Maoists were using the areas bordering Jharkhand as a corridor.
Mr. Soren, who had attended the back-to-back meetings on internal security and price rise in Delhi, was scheduled to go to Kolkata straight from the national capital on Monday.
The chief minister, however, returned to Ranchi.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will chair the meeting in Kolkata with participants from Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to discuss the naxal issue.
