Congress, BJP enter into war of words over Naxal attack

NEW DELHI: Congress and BJP were today involved in a war of words over the Naxal attack on security personnel in Chhattisgarh, with the ruling party at the Centre rejecting contentions that such incidents do occur ahead of elections.

"It is completely unacceptable to suggest that such things can happen during elections. Writ of the government should run strong and any failure is unacceptable," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters here.

He was responding to the BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad's remarks terming the Naxal attack as an attempt to "influence" the Lok Sabha polls.

Describing Naxalism as a national problem, Prasad had said earlier in the day, "...Naxals carry out such strikes before elections. Before Assembly elections, they carried out a similar attack to influence the polls but they failed. Again they have carried out an attack when Lok Sabha polls have been announced. But they will fail this time too."

Singhvi insisted that the state government was primarily responsible for law and order and the Centre has done its duty by providing assistance by way of men and material. In a brazen daytime attack, Maoists ambushed a security patrol killing 16 people including 11 of the CRPF in the worst-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, a BJP-ruled state.