Thiruvananthapuram:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today charged the Congress with attempting to politicise the Naxal attack at Baster in Chhattisgarh that claimed 24 lives, saying it is 'very unfortunate.'
BJP'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', Mr 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 Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress 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 in Thiruvananthapuram.
"The Prime Minister should have refrained from playing a blame game. BJP is deeply concerned over the Maoist attack', he said.
Mr Rudy also said former Home Minister P Chidambaram had mooted a national anti-Naxal policy, which could not be finalised due to opposition from Congress leader Digvijaya 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 Naxal problem was not an issue of individual states. It is trans-border 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, Mr Rudy added.
Twenty four people, including Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh, senior leader Mahendra Karma, former legislator Uday Mudliyar, were killed and more than 30 others injured in the Maoist ambush in the forested area on May 25.