Dilemma of different hue, Soren skips Kolkata meeting
Vijay Deo Jha
Ranchi
Caught between ‘Red and Green’ Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren chose to land in hospital instead Kolkata where he was scheduled to attend anti-naxal meeting of the Chief Ministers of four naxal hit states on Tuesday.
But the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram who chaired the meeting claimed that Jharkhand chief Minister Shibu Soren is on board as far as anti-Naxal operation in naxal hit states are concerned.
“Jharkhand is well on board, and, do not draw unnecessary inference if Soren did not attend the meeting. He failed to attend the meeting due to health reason. His two deputy chief ministers, chief secretary, DG of the police and other senior officials of the state government have attended the meeting.”
Chidambaram pointed out: “Only ten days back Soren spent two hours with me discussing this issue in New Delhi…intra-state operations against Maoists have already been launched in Jharkhand.”
Chidambaram cleared the mist at a press conference on the sideline of anti-naxal meeting in Kolkata. Chidambaram claimed that Jharkhand Chief Minister shares similar concern about the challenges posed by the CPI (Maoist) and other left extremist wing elements.
“We have made considerable progress…in Jharkhand and Orissa regarding anti-naxal operation. We will continue to do this in a ‘controlled and calibrated measure’ with ‘no collateral damage’ to dominate area under Maoist control to ensure the sway of the civil administration and the flow of development,” he said.
“The progress,” he said, “is slow and steady” which he said can not be measured like a cricket match score board.
The meeting while discussing ‘inter-state operations’ between West Bengal and Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa also took some crucial strategic decisions which will be operational in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the office of the Chief Minister explained; Soren was all set to attend the meeting which he could not do after he was admitted in the Apollo Hospital in Ranchi due to the health problem. The Deputy Chief Ministers Raghuwar Das and Sudesh Mahato participated in the meeting along with other senior officials.
The Public relation Officer of the Apollo Hospital Javed Akhtar informed that Soren who complained of chest pain was admitted in the hospital. “He (Soren) has been put under observation by a team of doctors headed by Dr. Neeraj Kumar,” he informed.
But inferences were quickly drawn. It was widely taken as a deliberate move of Soren to keep the CPI (Maoist) in good humour. Despite this he agreed to join centrally sponsored Operation Green Hunt against Maoists in Jharkhand.
While Soren in home ministry fashion dangled the carrot and stick before the rebels —negotiation or annihilation —a few week back the CPI (Maoist) leader and second-in-command Koteswar Rao aka Kishenji had asked the Chief Minister not to attend Kolkata meeting if he (Soren) was serious about truce.
“If he (Soren) fashions himself as People’s Chief Minister, and, if he is actually serious about negotiation he should not join the meeting,” media had reported Kishenji as saying.
Kishenji had also said that Soren attending the meeting would be deemed by the CPI (Maoist) as the manifestation of the unwillingness of the state government to hold parley.
