Harping on the divisions between the Congress party and government on its anti-Maoist strategy, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said that home minister P Chidambaram is ?isolated? and is under ?gherao? from his own party and colleagues as ?half-Maoists? in the treasury benches and the Cabinet are diluting the fight against the Maoists.
Leading the charge against the government in Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said the government and the ruling party seems to be ?divided? at a time when the Opposition is united in supporting the Centre?s offensive against Maoists. He also attacked railway minister Mamata Banerjee, dubbing her a ?half-Maoist? in the light of her demand for the arrest of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
In what seemed to be a coordinated attack against the government by the BJP and the Left, Jaitley as well as the CPI(M)?s Sitaram Yechury made the point that the ruling party and the government and the ministers in the Union Cabinet are pulling in different directions and speaking in different voices. The reference was to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh?s and Mani Shanker Aiyer?s remarks that were publicly aired recently, taking on home minister P Chidambaram?s anti-Naxal strategy.
?The home minister is under gherao from his own party and his own government colleagues,? said Jaitley. ?What we don?t need is a government which tries to pull down its own home minister,? he said.
Such a situation, said Jaitley, would lead to the government losing the fight against the Maoists even before it begins. ?While the home minister at least says he wants to fight the Maoists? there are completely conflicting statements (emanating) from the ruling party.?
Attacking Digvijay Singh, Jaitley said if a satyagraha can resolve the Maoist issue, ?we would join the author.? Jaitley and Yechury also took digs at Chidambaram for his ?buck stops with you? comment.
On Chidambaram?s proposed resignation in the wake of Dantewada, Jaitley said that the home minister should not behave like a martyr. ?…Generals don?t walk out of the battlefield. They don?t give the enemy reason to rejoice. This is a battle India cannot afford to lose,? he said.