By IANS,
New Delhi : Accepting “full responsibility” for the Chhattisgarh massacre, Home Minister P. Chidambaram offered his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who rejected it outright as the opposition backed his decision.
And, in rare solidarity signalling the gravity with which the Maoist insurgency is viewed in the country, the opposition BJP and CPI-M also rallied around to back the minister.
Chidambaram set the ball rolling Friday morning at a function of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which lost 75 of its men in the forests of Dantewada Tuesday in the worst Maoist attack since the insurgency began more than four decades ago.
“I have been asked directly or indirectly where the buck stops after the attack. The buck stops at my desk,” Chidambaram said at the CRPF’s Valour Day event.
“I accept full responsibility for what happened in Dantewada. I called the prime minister and gave in writing that I accept full responsibility for what happened,” he said, adding: “Let me not elaborate.”
The home minister refused to elaborate on the letter, but government sources later told IANS that Chidambaram had offered to step down. The prime minister refused to accept his resignation.
“The PM has declined to accept the home minister’s offer for resignation. The PM fully backs his senior cabinet colleague,” a top official told IANS.
The home minister had also written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi accepting the blame for the deaths of 75 CRPF men and one Chhattisgarh policeman.