Congress attempting to politicise Maoist attack: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party charged the Congress with attempting to politicise the Maoist attack at Baster in Chhattisgarh that claimed 27 lives, saying it is ‘very unfortunate’.

Party's National General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy demanded that Congress leaders refrain from making statements with political implications. "This is not a time for blame game', Rudy said adding the need was to create a national banner to fight the Maoist menace.

"We can understand the anger, concern and anguish of AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. But it is very unfortunate to make statements with political implications at a time of grief,” he said addressing a press conference.

On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's reported statement that ‘who is responsible for the attack’, he said it was an attempt to politicise a national challenge. "The prime minister should have refrained from playing a blame game. BJP is deeply concerned over the Maoist attack,” he said.

Rudy also said former Home Minister P Chidambaram had mooted an national anti-naxal policy, which could not be finalised due to opposition from Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

"Due to discord in Congress over the policy, an attempt to create a national policy framework to fight naxalism could not be evolved,” he said adding Congress should do some self-introspection in this regard.

He said BJP was of the view that the Maoist problem was not an issue of individual states. It is transborder in nature and spread to many states. A consensus approach by the Centre and states was needed to deal with Maoists, who are a threat to democracy, Rudy added.

Twenty seven people, including Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nandkumar Patel and his son Dinesh, senior leader Mahendra Karma, ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar, were killed and 32 others injured in the Maoist ambush in the forested area on May 25.