Kolkata:
It was a meeting meant to discuss how the four states most affected by Naxals will fight back. But the chief ministers of two of these states didn't show up for the strategy session with Home Minister P Chidambaram in Kolkata.
Jharkhand's Shibu Soren and Bihar's Nitish Kumar were conspicuous by their absence. Soren was ill and Kumar was plainly hostile to the idea of the Kolkata meet.
"Bihar is not treated well...I have been requesting for 23 companies of the CRPF here...'upar se updesh hi zyada chalta rehta hai', action nahi' (Only advice is given by the centre, no action)...I already told the Centre that I can't be out of my state all the time...but those sitting in the Centre decide dates arbitrally," he said.
The chief ministers of Orissa and West Bengal were joined by Soren and Kumar's representatives at the two-hour long session with the Home Minister.
Chidambaram tried to downplay the case of the missing chief ministers. "Sri Nitish Kumar told me in Delhi that he had an earlier appointment which he could not avoid and therefore he was deputing his senior officers who are here 29 NK will either visit Delhi or I shall visit Patna and hold discussions. There is no difficulty about Nitish Kumar."
The Naxals, as if to make a point, struck hours before the brain-storming meet, destroying the busy Delhi-Howrah line in the Jamui district of Bihar and the Giridih district of Jharkhand.
Chidambaram officially appealed once again to Maoists to abjure violence and start talks with the government.
"If you abjure violence, that is if you say a halt to violence, we are not asking you to do anything more, if you halt the violence we are prepared to talk to you on any matter," he said. (Read - Halt violence for talks: Chidambaram to Naxals)
In the meantime, Chidambaram says, the focus will be on measured and controlled operations to reclaim Maoist-dominated areas.
The Home Minister also used his visit to support his party's ally, Mamata Banerjee, who has been accused repeatedly by West Bengal's Left of secretly supporting the Naxals. Chidamabaram said, "Nobody is colluding with Maoists..any political party in India that believes in parliamentary democracy cannot collude with the Maoists." Banerjee's concern is that innocent people should not be affected by anti-Maoist operations, he added.
For the government to take on the Maoists, the affected states have to work on joint operations. With two chief ministers missing from this key meeting, the cooperation seems tough to come by.