BJP 'fights' Congress to combat Naxalism

Claims it only has the clear policy to tackle red menace

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took on Congress over fighting with the Naxalites alleging that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government did not have clear policy to end the red menace.

“Only BJP has clear policy to tackle the Naxal problem,” senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said Friday afternoon. He said the BJP had dealt with iron hand to take on Naxal issue while the UPA government did not provide the required assistance.

Jaitley’s stand on the issue is seen as a counter of Sonia Gandhi who Thursday alleged that the Raman Singh government had failed in dealing with the Naxal issue. This resulted in the Darba ghat ambush that killed key Congress leaders on May 25 this year, she attributed.

Even Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi trained gun on the BJP on the Naxal issue and hit out at the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh over the killings of party's top leaders in a Naxal attack in May, 2013. He said that nobody could have stopped slain state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel from becoming the next chief minister of the state and death was the only way, he said while addressing a gathering in Rajnandgaon on Friday.

With the Congress banking on the sympathy votes for “sacrificing” top leaders in the violence unleashed by the Left radical group, the BJP managers had planned to go offensive and put the ball on Centre court. Ironically, the BJP manifesto did not refer to the issue and the policy to tackle the Naxal problem.“Our policy is clear on the issue and we want to solve the problem with the economic upliftment of the people and infrastructure development in the area inflicted with the problem,” Jaitley said. If required, BJP could use force to deal with the rebels in a hard way, he added.

The BJP leader said the party was not considering for negotiation with the Naxalites. “How can there be a negotiation with the person who is carrying gun in one hand,” he added.

Jaitley said the BJP was going to win the four states going to poll this year. “The result would be a trendsetter for the Lok Sabha election,” he added.