Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who reviewed the anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh in his first visit here after the May 25 attack, said the Central forces and state police would launch joint action in Bastar area in the days to come.
He had an hour-long meeting with Chief Minister Raman Singh and senior officials at Raj Bhavan.
Naxal attack in south Bastar on May 25 killed 27 persons including state Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and senior leader Mahendra Karma.
"After a discussion over the incident, we have decided to take a joint action," said Shinde. "Chief Minister Raman Singh told me that this time we will not put any demand (to Centre), except we want support. Central forces will support the state in joint operation."
"Every Naxal-affected state should develop Greyhound force (on the lines of Andhra Pradesh) to combat Naxals.
Centre would offer help in this area," he added.
State Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar, Union Home Secretary R K Singh, CRPF Director General Pranay Sahay and Chhattisgarh DGP Ramniwas were among those who attended today's meeting.
About the attack, Shinde said, "In the preliminary investigation it seems that there are security lapses, but enquiry will further reveal it.
"So far we were thinking that this (violence) would be some other way of movement. But in 2010 incident (Tadmetla massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed) and May 25 (attack on Congress rally) we have seen it is nothing other than a terror (activity)," he added.
CMs to meet on June 5 to chalkout strategy
Chief ministers of Naxal-affected states will meet here on June 5 to formulate strategy on how to check unabated violence by Maoists and tackle the menace.
The special session of nine chief ministers will be held on the sideline of the Chief Ministers conference on internal security convened by the Home Ministry next week.
Chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will discuss threadbare the issue with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and other top security officers.
The Centre is expected to take consent from the chief ministers for launching an all-out anti-Naxal operation involving specialised forces like CoBRA and Andhra Pradesh's Greyhounds simultaneously in all Naxal-affected states to wipe out the extremists from their strongholds.
The renewed effort for the all-out offensive against the Maoists is necessitated following killing of 27 people, including Congress leaders, by Naxals in Jagdalpur on May 25.
Sources said even though the Maoists carried out the audacious strike last week, they were on the backfoot even in areas like Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, some areas in Odisha and security forces in these states were coordinating with each other to fight the Naxals.
"There is inter-border movement of Maoists. This is such terrain -- Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha -- where there is poor communication. So, they often sneak into another state from one state. Our aim is to intensify the operations with close coordination of state forces as well central forces," a source said.