Centre,states must fight Naxals jointly

I do realise that although law and order is primarily the states responsibility,this is a problem which has acquired a magnitude that cooperation between the Centre and the states is absolutely necessary and that the Central government must help the states in every possible way, the Prime Minister said.

Manmohan Singhs comments come in the backdrop of remarks by his Cabinet colleague P Chidambaram last week who had said that,as Home Minister,he had requested the Cabinet for a larger mandate to deal with Naxalites but was given only a limited mandate.

Chidambarams remarks were initially seen as a demand to give the Home Ministry the power to use air surveillance to assist police operation against the Naxalites. But the Home Minister had later clarified that his mandate was limited in the sense that a major responsibility to fight the Naxal groups rested with the state governments.

The Prime Minister said these issues would be discussed in more detail at the Cabinet meetings. These are issues that are strategy issues which will be discussed in the appropriate forum of the Cabinet whenever the opportunity arises, he said. He also sought to dispel the notion that the Naxal-affected states,which are being ruled by different political formulations,were having divergent strategies to deal with Naxalism.

I have spoken to the chief ministers of affected states and I am of the firm belief that all the CMs understand that controlling the spread of Naxalism is absolutely important to ensure the progress of the country, he said.

Indo-Pak talks to address trust deficit

After having mutually identified trust deficit between India and Pakistan as one of the biggest hurdles in the dialogue process,the two countries had agreed to go for talks at the foreign secretary and foreign ministers level to address the issue,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday. Singh also said New Delhi was willing to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan if it ensured that its soil was not used for terrorism against India.

In-house critics silenced

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs categorical denial of any retirement plans and re-affirmation of his regular engagement and coordination with Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to put an end to frequent sniping by some of his party colleagues who had become active since the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July last year,which had purportedly thrown up differences between the party and government.

There is no dearth of effective coordination mechanism. I think,I am very fortunate that I have the benefit of constant advice and guidance by the Congress president. Invariably,we meet every week to discuss all major issues or issues that need to be discussed, the Prime Minister said.

That put to rest all speculation about differences between the Congress and the government,especially with leaders like Digvijay Singh,Mani Shankar Aiyar,Jairam Ramesh airing divergent views about governments policies.

With the PM making public how he and the Congress president coordinate on all issues,party snipers are now set to think twice before taking a swipe at governments policies. The tone and substance of the interaction (with the Press) today reflected the sagacity and wisdom of the Prime Minister, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said.