April 8, 2010 12:45 PM

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No decision yet on use of air power against Naxals: PM

The Prime Minister has said that the government has not taken any view on using air power against Naxals. Dr. Manmohan Singh said that all options are reviewed from time to time but it is too close to the incident of Dantewada attack for the existing policy of fighting naxals to be modified. He was replying to questions from the media on the sidelines of a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan to present Padma Awards yesterday. Earlier, the Home Minister P Chidambaram said that the Government may have to reconsider the stand not to use the air force in the anti-naxal operations.<br/><br/>Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh held the Raman Singh Government responsible for Dantewada Naxal attack and demanded that it should quit on moral grounds. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ravindra Choubey said, the Intelligence Department was completely oblivious to the huge gathering of Naxalites in the forests. He said, the situation in Chhattisgarh is graver than Lalgarh and the state government should seek Army's help from the Centre to tackle Naxalism. The Congress leaders also demanded that President's rule be imposed in the state. In a related development, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Umashanker Gupta said there should not be any discrimination by the Centre towards states in tackling the menace of Naxalism. He said government has to rise above politics and join hands to fight the grave challenges posed by the red ultras. <br/><br/>In the neighbouring state of Orissa, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's office received a fresh threat e-mail from suspected Maoists who warned a repeat of Dantewada-type massacre in the state. Police said, the e-mail sent from pgla.ocac.in landed at the chief minister's official e-mail account yesterday. This is the second threat e-mail received by Patnaik's office within a fortnight. The earlier e-mail was received on March 27.<br/><br/>The CRPF today said it is conducting anti- Maoist operations in close consolation with Chhattisgarh police and a joint offensive will be carried out soon. CRPF Director General Vikram Srivastava said in New Delhi that anti-Naxal operations will be intensified. <br/><br/>With coordination issues between central and state forces being raised in the wake of the Dantewada massacre, he said, the Central forces will do the planning in close consultation with the state DGP and the state officers. Issues relating to coordination among police forces were at the centre of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's discussions with the officials of the Chhattisgarh police and para-military forces during his visit to the state yesterday.<br/>

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