Maoist attack: Shinde stays away from crisis by remaining in US

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde remained in the United States on a ten-day visit even after the massive Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, sending out a message contrary to that of the British Prime Minister David Cameroon, who recently cut short his Paris visit to rush back home after the killing of soldier Lee Rigby at Woolwich.

The entire delegation of nearly a dozen bureaucrats including home secretary RK Singh, who left with Shinde on May 19 for the Home Security Dialogue from May 20-22 returned to India on Sunday. However, the home ministry officials claimed that they did not have the details of Shinde's engagements in the US after May 22.

"The pre-scheduled tour programme of the home minister was from May 20 to May 29. The tour programme has not been extended and there is no change to it," a spokesman of the ministry said, failing to clarify whether the home minister was on official or personal engagements in the US thereafter.