Home minister P Chidambaram may have been under frequent criticism from the Congress party functionaries, but today he received full support from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who complimented him for doing an "exceedingly good job".
Singh was asked at an interaction with editors in New Delhi about Chidambaram's complaint that he had a limited mandate in dealing with the Naxal menace
"All of us have a limited mandate," the prime minister responded, adding that once a policy is laid down it has to be implemented.
Chidambaram, he said, was doing an exceedingly good job and "he has my full confidence and support".
He complimented the home minister for the way in which he had handled a difficult job in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has been sniping at Chidambaram on Naxal and some other issues. Recently another general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi publicly took a different line from the home minister on "saffron" terror.