With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejecting his offer to step down following the Maoist attack on a battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force in Chhattisgarh, the resignation episode is now a closed chapter, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said here on Saturday.
“The resignation was indeed tendered. The Prime Minister has rejected it and the matter is a closed chapter,” Mr. Chidambaram said at a press conference shortly after holding a meeting to review the development and welfare schemes of the territorial administration. Asked whether Tuesday's Maoist attack was a blot on his track record as Home Minister, Mr. Chidambaram said: “Any attack is indeed a blot. It was a horrific tragedy.”
“Therefore I said the buck stops at my desk. That does not mean the State governments have no role. They have a role. They acknowledge and recognise their role. According to me all the State governments are aware of their responsibility,” he said.
Mr. Chidambaram said it was an “intra-Chhattisgarh operation and not an inter-State operation. It was planned by the Inspector-General, Deputy Inspector-General of the State along with the DIG of the CRPF. It was conveyed to the police headquarters and they were aware of it. But something went wrong… very badly wrong.”
After the inquiry committee constituted by the government submitted the report, corrective steps would be taken. The Centre's role according to the mandate given to the Ministry of Home Affairs was to provide paramilitary forces to carry out anti-Naxal operations, regain control over the area and restore civil administration and development works, he said.
