Congress top brass meet; discuss Dantewada attack

Top brass of the Congress met here this evening during which it was understood to have discussed the Dantewada naxal attack and home minister P Chidambaram's offer of resignation owing moral responsibility for it. 

The Congress Core Group, comprising of prime minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi, finance minister
Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, defence minister AK Antony and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel attended the meeting.

It is understood that the Dantewada incident in which 76 security personnel were killed and the offer of resignation of Chidambaram came up for discussion in the meeting, sources said.

Earlier at the AICC briefing, Congress backed Chidambaram saying his offer of resignation owning moral responsibility
for the attack on the security forces was appreciated and
commended by the party.

"The statement by home minister to prime minister owning full moral responsibility does not need to be commented upon.
It is appreciated and commended," party spokesman Abhishek
Singhvi told reporters.

The party also came out with a two-pronged approach to control the Maoist menace in their areas of influence. 

Singhvi said the Central government will assist the state government in carrying out anti-Naxal operation and regain the
territory from their influence.

The second strategy, according to the spokesman, was to address the socio-economic issues of poor people. 

"This is to help the state government to restore civil administration and start developmental process like building schools, health centres, roads, providing water and electricity etc," Singhvi said.

The party leader said the Congress believes the "state has legitimate right to deploy security forces to apprehend and neutralise the militants (Maoists)".

Referring to the history of the CPI (Maoists), Singhvi said after 2004, the Left Wing extremists extended their influence to different districts of the country and their avowed aim was to "liberate more and more areas".

He said they have exploited the poverty faced by tribals in the affected districts and that the tribals seem to support them. "But it is fear masquerading as suppport," he said. 

Taking a sympathetic view of the tribals, Singhvi said, "the poor tribals are caught with CPI (Maoists) on one hand and ineffective administration on the other". 

Referring to the two-pronged strategy of the party, he said "our approach will succeed, must succeed."

Singhvi said the Dantewada incident was a "scourge on democracy" and a violation of human rights.

Commending the role of the para military forces, the spokesman said they have showed great courage against odds even as the enemy was invisible.

"This is the time to stand by our para military forces and face the challenge posed by the anti-nationals like the naxalites," he said.

The party leader also called upon all individuals who believe in Indian constitution to come out openly and condemn such dastardly acts. 

Asked whether the party favoured a dialogue with the Maoists, he said this could be done only if they believed in Indian constitution and abjured violence.

"How can you expect a party to beg for talks when they (Maoists) talk through the barrel of the gun," Singhvi asked.

On whether the party supported the use of military and air force against the Maoists, Singhvi referred to the statements of the prime minister and the home minister on the issue.

"At present, there is no mandate to use such force... But nothing can be ruled out," he said, adding it was not necessary to speculate on it. 

Singhvi also ridiculed media reports saying that the CRPF personnel, killed in Dantewada, were "not trained" for such a warfare saying this was "an insult" and such statements should not be made at this juncture.