Killing contradictions

Congressmen in Chhattisgarh have been put in an embarrassing position by their party’s central leadership over the killing of suspected Naxalites by security forces in Bastar. Hoping to embarrass the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), local Congressmen were among the most vociferous in alleging that those killed were innocent villagers. But even as the Chhattisgarh Congress was making a big issue of this, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram held a press conference in New Delhi to say just the opposite. He was emphatic that hard-core Naxalites were killed in the encounter. Then he even named some of the alleged extremists. But as it turned out, none of them had any connections with the Naxalites. So the Congress leaders in the state are in a dilemma. They cannot blame their leaders for the mess, so they are now castigating the state police for providing the Centre with incorrect information.