Kishenji: Chidambaram hasn't called

Kolkata/New Delhi: Five pm on Thursday evening was the deadline set by the Naxals for the government to discuss a potential ceasefire. 

But Home Minister P Chidambaram has apparently not phoned Kishenji, the Naxal leader who offered a conditional truce earlier this week through interviews to television channels.  At that point, Chidambaram had responded by saying he wanted "no ifs, buts and preconditions;" he also stressed the offer had to be faxed to him. 

Kishenji responded by sharing his mobile number and saying he would wait for a phone call.

Just after the Naxals' deadline expired, an aide for Kishenji told NDTV, "We will keep the phone open for some time...till 9pm. Chidambaram is indulging in drama."  He also added that Kishenji is not waiting by the phone.  "Kishenji is here.  He is busy."

Part of the reason why the Home minister has been cautious in his response to the offer is because within hours of it being extended, the Naxals attacked a security camp in Bengal's West Midnapore district.  The attack exposed what many describe as a serious rift between Kishenji and his senior, Ganapati.  

Intelligence agencies also believe that the Naxals hope to regroup during a ceasefire ; they're currently under pressure because of the government's Operation Green Hunt - a gigantic counter-offensive to clear Naxals from the areas they control in states like Jharkhand and Bengal.

At NDTV's Indian of the Year Awards on Wednesday night, Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "He has been trying to get the Naxals to engage in talks for months. His only condition: "abjure violence."

Here are the rest of his comments, made in an interview with NDTV's Barkha Dutt at the NDTV Indian of the Year ceremony.

NDTV: We've gone into this surreal space where you're offering your fax number, he's offering his mobile number. Are you already on text with each other?

Chidambaram:   No.  You see what I said yesterday was not a new offer or a response to an offer... all that I ask him to say or ask the CPI Maoists to say is that "we will abjure violence."  If he says that, if the CPI Maoists say that, I said "Give me 72 hrs. Let me talk to the Prime Minister, let me talk to Nitish Babu, let me talk to the other 7 chief ministers of Naxal-affected states. And I'll come back with a response. And my response will be prompt, positive and will show the way forward. But they must say that they will abjure violence and there should be no violent incident till I come back with a response.

NDTV: So nothing in Kishenji's statement that makes you optimistic so far?

Chidambaram:  No. Three hours after the statement, they did attack a patrol party and 3 of them were killed when the joint patrol party retaliated. Three hours after the statement was made, one of the joint patrol parties was attacked in Bengal.