Sushil Kumar Shinde writes to Nitish Kumar as Naxals talk of ‘big attack’

NEW DELHI: With Bihar the only state in the country showing an increase in Maoist violence this year, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has shot off a strong letter to chief minister Nitish Kumar asking him to review his strategy to take on the insurgents and head off further attacks.

Bihar principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani confirmed to ET that Shinde wrote to Kumar last week. “We are preparing a reply to the Union home minister’s letter which will soon be sent,” Subhani said on the phone from Patna.

Another top Bihar government official, on condition of anonymity, shared the contents of Shinde’s letter, which warned of intelligence inputs that Maoists could soon launch “spectacular strikes” in Bihar.

“The letter says Bihar should change its strategy against the Naxals and have a re-look at their tactics,” the Bihar government official said.

“The home minister has also mentioned that the coordination between Bihar police and the central armed forces like CRPF and even between Bihar and other Naxal-affected states has broken down and there is an urgent need to repair this.

The letter from Shinde to the Bihar chief minister also says that Bihar has become an easy ground for Naxals to snatch weapons from the security forces.”

It is believed that Nitish Kumar, subsequent to Shinde’s letter, has had a meeting with CRPF officers in Patna, urging them to take the lead in tackling Naxals in Bihar.

Shinde is also sending K Vijay Kumar, senior security adviser in the home ministry and former CRPF chief, to Patna on December 12 to take stock of the situation.