Chidambaram vows to confront Naxals

In a stern warning to Naxals, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Sunday that security forces will not hesitate from launching a "battle on ground" to help "re-establish" civil administration's control in the areas occupied by the ultra Left groups.

"We are clear in our view that the government must re-establish the control of the civil administration, therefore the forces will be deployed in order to re-establish the control of the civilian administration," Chidambaram said briefing newsmen about the deliberations at the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security. He said,"If that means confronting the Naxals, if that means some kind of a battle on ground so be it. Our forces are meant to put down violence and our forces will be deployed to put down violence. The chief ministers generally supported our response to them". On the Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's demand for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the Home Minister said," He did mention about UAVs. But there is no proposal at present to deploy UAVs, certainly not in urban or rural areas. There is no proposal to deploy UAVs".

"There

are reports that some left wing extremists have tried to exploit the issue that is now concerning Andhra Pradesh. But naxalite movement in itself is under control," he said on the question of naxalite movement in Andhra Pradesh. "In fact, AP government, AP police has made significant successes in the last three or four months and the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh's statement refers to the success scored by the Andhra Pradesh police in nabbing naxal leaders," Chidambaram said.
     
Earlier during the meet, chief ministers of naxal-affected states demanded the Centre's assistance in the form of force and funds. "The Left-wing violence in the East has also escalated, with a paradigm shift in the strategy adopted by the LW
extremists... There can be no difference of opinion that peace and tranquility and development have to go hand in hand," he
said.
     
Raman Singh, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh-- one of the worst naxal affected states-- demanded the Centre should share
the cost of tackling the scourge as it is not an "exclusive state level issue".