In anti-Maoism fight, buck stops with Chidambaram: Jaitley

NEW DELHI - Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership decided to support the government’s drive against Maoism, senior party leader Arun Jaitley Tuesday trained his guns on Home Minister P. Chidambaram and said that the buck stops with him.

Earlier Tuesday, Maoists had ambushed and massacred 75 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a policeman in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh’s Dantewara district in the worst such attack since the Maoist rebellion erupted 43 years ago.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy articulating the official party position said the BJP was with the government and it will not play politics over the serious subject.

At the 30th anniversary celebration of the BJP, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had Chidambaram in his cross-hair.

I can use the language of the home minister and say that the buck stops with the home minister’s chair, he said.

Jaitley was echoing Chidambaram’s statement after visiting Lalgarh in West Bengal, where he said the buck stopped with the chief minister.

Incidentally, the BJP celebrations were a rather subdued affair, with both parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj not attending the function.

Party president Nitin Gadkari himself arrived about two hours late at the venue.