West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday said the Maoist problem was a serious one that required collective work instead of a blame game.
Having been commented upon by the Union Home Minister recently, the West Bengal Chief Minister avoided joining issue again after Mr. Chidambaram owned moral responsibility for the Dantewada attack, stating the buck stopped at his desk.
“This is not the time to blame anyone. This is not the time to blame each other. It is time to work together. It's a collective responsibility and we must work collectively,” he said at a press conference here.
Mr. Bhattacharjee had objected to the manner in which Mr. Chidambaram said that as far as maintaining law and order was concerned, the buck stopped at the table of the Chief Minister. Mr. Chidambaram made the remark after a visit to Lalgarh.
After the Dantewada attack, Mr. Bhattacharjee felt the governments should revamp their plans and operations. “All of us must give the matter a serious thought.” He, however, refused to spell out how the plans should be revamped.
Mr. Bhattacharjee said he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he returned from his U.S., Brazil trip.
The Chief Minister said his government had, on several occasions, conveyed to Mr. Chidambaram that UPA ally Trinamool Congress was “hand-in-glove” with Maoists.
Asked about Mr. Chidambaram's response, he said: “As usual, he did not like it. The Home Minister does not like any party, any individual, NGO or the media supporting Maoists.”
At the same time, the Chief Minister said the Maoist issue cannot be treated as another law and order problem and its socio-economic dimension had to be looked into.
With this end in view, the State government had sought funds from the Planning Commission for constructing roads, providing drinking water and irrigation facilities in the districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Mednipur where Maoists were active, he said.
