Chidambaram isolated by party,allies in fight against Maoists,says Jaitley

Referring to the remarks of AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar against Chidambaram,Jaitley said while the Home Minister “says that he wants to fight the Maoists”, completely “conflicting voices” are coming from the government and the ruling party.

“What we don’t need is a government which tries to pull down its own Home Minister,what we don’t need is a divided government,what we don’t need is half-Maoists in the Treasury benches who try and pull down the government by saying that the fight against Maoists must be diluted,” he said.

Quoting Singh’s article,Jaitley said: “It appears that the Home Minister,in his approach,is under gherao from his own party,under gherao from his own colleagues in the government.”

Senior Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi interrupted Jaitley to point out that the “statements of some individuals should not be portrayed as the view of the party”.

Reacting to Chidambaram’s statement that countering Maoists would require a strong head and stronger heart,Jaitley said the Home Minister also needs a strong government and a strong party. “And what is fatal to this operation is the fact that you don’t have the support of that party or that government in carrying on this operation. And if you are isolated in this… then certainly you can lose this battle even before it has actually begun,” he said.

In what seemed to be a coordinated attack against the government by the BJP and the Left,Jaitley also came down heavily on Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for saying that there is not a single Maoist in Lalgarh and demanding the arrest of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury accused Mamata of providing protection and patronage to Maoists.

Referring to Mamata,Jaitley said: “These are half-Maoists when they speak this language”. Stating that she was defying the “collective responsibility principle,” he said,“I think such a minister should be called to the Bar of this House and asked to explain the statement which defies all federal principles.”

On Chidambaram’s resignation offer,Jaitley said: “Generals don’t walk out of a battle. They don’t give an enemy reason to rejoice. The Home Minister is responsible for this country’s internal security. This was a setback. But after a setback,Home Ministers do not behave like injured martyrs.”

Both Jaitley and Yechury took digs at Chidambaram for his “buck stops with you” comment to Bhattacharjee. Jaitley reminded the Home Minister that despite his “snide” remarks,the West Bengal CM and the BJP supported him in the fight against Maoists.

While saying that Chidambaram needed to improve his personal relationship with Chief Ministers,he added,“but we cannot help improve his inter-personal relationships within his own party.”

Meanwhile,Yechury said Mamata was supporting Maoists even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Left wing extremism as the gravest internal security threat. He asked how the government could “co-exist with such a contradiction,” saying “this is the height of political opportunism”.