The BJP on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to refrain from ‘’blame game’’ over the Maoist attack at Baster in Chhattisgarh in which 27 people, including senior Congress leaders, were killed.
Addressing a press meet here, BJP national general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy asked the Congress leaders to refrain from making statements with political implications. ‘’We can understand the anger, concern and anguish of AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. But it was unfortunate to make statements with political implications at a time of grief,’’ he said.
Rudy said it was unfortunate to politicise a national challenge. ‘’The Prime Minister should have refrained from the blame game. The BJP is deeply concerned about the Maoist attack,’’ he said. The BJP leader emphasised the need for evolving a national banner to fight the Maoist menace.
He sad it was the discord among the Congress leaders which aborted an attempt to chart out a national policy on fighting the Naxal menace. It was the then Union Home Minister P Chidambaram who prepared an anti-Naxal policy framework. But it could not be materialised following opposition from Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Rudy said.
He said that the Naxal menace was a trans-border issue spread over several states. Naxals are active in 680 districts out of which 250 are virtually under their control. A national debate is needed to expedit the return of normalcy to these states, he said. Referring to the arrest of cricketer S Sreeshant and others over the IPL betting controversy, the BJP leader said as the top management of the BCCI also was involved, it was time for BCCI chief N Sreenivasan to take an appropriate decision.