New Delhi: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today defended his writing a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar citing his government's alleged failure in tackling Maoists and said it was in the interest of the state dispensation that he highlighted the issues.
“The Centre is concerned over the Bihar situation. It is the Bihar Police which is facing the Naxals and its men have died. So, I have written the letter flagging the issues,” he told reporters here, a day after his letter became public.
Shinde is also believed to have written letters to chief ministers of all Naxal-affected states and Jammu and Kashmir asking them to take initiatives for better coordination between state and central forces in the fight against the extremists.
In his separate letter, Shinde is said to have conveyed that it is extremely necessary to have close coordination between the state police and central paramilitary forces for better results during fight against the insurgents.
Shinde has come under attack from JD(U), the ruling party in Bihar, over the “insulting” language used in the letter. The JD(U) members today stormed the Well of Lok Sabha and demanded an apology from the Home Minister.
In his letter to Nitish, Shinde had said situation in the state has become alarming and there is complete breakdown in coordination between the state police and central forces. He also advised Nitish to examine the successful counter-insurgency models of other states and adopt such structures in Bihar too.
“We have noticed a complete breakdown in coordination between the state police and the central forces as well as with the neighbouring states like Jharkhand,” Shinde wrote in his letter to Kumar.
