Elaborate strategy to tackle Maoists: Raman Singh

A day after a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh claimed close to 30 lives, Chief Minister Raman Singh Sunday said an elaborate strategy would be put in place to give a fitting response to Maoist insurgents.

Singh was speaking at the Jagdalpur Medical College Hospital where he met the injured earlier in the morning.

The Saturday evening attack was launched by Maoists waiting in ambush in the thickly forested area of Darbha Ghati in southern Bastar, close to the border of Chhattisgarh with Andhra Pradesh. The convoy of Congress leaders was returning to state capital Raipur from a rally when the attack occurred.

The state is headed for assembly elections later this year.

The Maoists first set off a landmine blast and then opened indiscriminate fire. Close to 30 people, including Mahendra Karma, Congress leader responsible for the founding of anti-Maoist force Salwa Judum, died in the attack.

State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel and his son Dinesh were reported missing after the attack -- their bodies were later found, along with those of eight others, in Jiram Valley of Bastar district.

Speaking of the tragic attack, the chief minister said: "This is not the time for hurling allegations or to engage in a political tug-of-war. This is also not the time to talk about the ruling party or the opposition, but to unitedly take on 'Red Terror' and give them a fitting response to the carnage."

Singh, talking to the injured, said the government would extend to them all possible help. He later left to pay his condolences to the family of slain leader Mahendra Karma.