Fight against Naxals to be long drawn, says Chidambaram

Raipur: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday visited the homes of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and a police constable who were killed in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district.

Chidambaram made an unscheduled visit to the homes of Rajnandgaon superintendent of police V K Choubey in EAC Colony and constable Sanjay Yadav in Tikrapara area with Chief Minister Raman Singh.

Choubey and Yadav were killed by Maoist guerrillas on July 12 in Madanwara forest area of Rajnandgaon.

Choubey was on the hit-list of Maoist rebels for years and was the first IPS officer to have been killed by the guerrillas.

Chidambaram, who landed at Mana airport in state capital Raipur around 0800 hrs, drove straight to Raj Bhawan and met Governor ES Narasimhan and Chief Minister Raman Singh.

After a brief meeting, he drove first to Choubey's home and consoled the bereaved family members.

The Home Minister also said the central government would extend all support to states to counter and defeat left-wing extremism in what would be a 'long-drawn' fight.

"It is a long drawn fight against Naxals (Maoists). The centre is totally supporting Chhattisgarh in its efforts to counter left wing extremism," he told reporters at the state secretariat where he reviewed the state's internal security situation in the wake of police and para-military forces mounting an onslaught against the Maoist rebels.

Chidambaram, who refused to take any questions, said his visit to Chhattisgarh was to assure the Centre's support in the state's fight against the Naxalites and to offer his condolences to the policemen who had laid down their lives while fighting the rebels.

Referring to the July 12 incident in which 29 police personnel, including Superintendent of Police VK Choubey, were killed in an Maoist ambush at Madanwara in Rajnandgaon district, he said the state government had taken prompt action to provide relief to the families of the killed security personnel.

Meanwhile, official sources said the government of Chhattisgarh - India's worst Maoist hit state - had sought more forces and resources from the centre at the meet so that simultaneous operations could be carried out in the state's sprawling, mineral-rich Bastar region where the rebels hold sway since the late 1980s.