15 securitymen killed in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh

NEW DELHI: Just four days after the Centre had warned the Raman Singh-led BJP government in Chhattisgarh of "spectacular strikes" by Maoists, an audacious attack on Tuesday left 15 security persons dead, setting the stage for political mud-slinging in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

"The state BJP government has failed to act or do enough on the Naxal issue," state Congress leader Ajit Jogi said after the attack.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, however, said it was too early to fix any blame. "We will take the Maoists head on. I cannot comment right now as to whose failure it is....I condemn the attack," Shinde told the mediapersons.

The ministry will be sending in more forces to the state, which will see polling in three phases from April 10.

The Congress, including its vice president Rahul Gandhi, had earlier slammed the BJP government in the state after his party's local leaders were killed in a similar attack last May ahead of the assembly elections. The Congress had then lost the polls despite making major gains in Bastar.

On Tuesday, not far from the spot of the earlier attack in Bastar, about 200 Maoists killed 11 CRPF men, four state police personnel and a civilian while the security men were accompanying a road construction party.

Chief Minister Raman Singh was quick to press upon the Centre to double the forces for the Lok Sabha elections, saying the existing deployment was not enough.

Significantly, a 34-page home ministry note prepared for Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth for a review meeting on March 7, accessed by ET, credited the Raman Singh government with having given "excellent political and bureaucratic support for counter-insurgency campaign and having good long-term counter-insurgency processes and mechanisms in place".

At this meeting chaired by Seth and attended by police chiefs and chief secretaries of Maoist-affected states and central intelligence chiefs, Chhattisgarh was warned, "CPI-Maoist still retains its core strength in parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. They are capable of resorting to spectacular strikes in these strongholds."

The home ministry had warned Chhattisgarh on February as well, citing the revelations made in January by a top surrendered Maoist leader, Gudsa Usendi, which indicated that CPI (Maoist) planned to take "advantage of the rather thin and dispersed deployment" of security forces during the Lok Sabha elections to strike in Chhattisgarh.

(With inputs from PTI)