Congress has no clear counter-Naxal policy: Jaitley

Raipur, Nov 9: Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Friday slammed

for being soft on

terror and said the party had no clear policy on countering Naxalism. It was the BJP-ruled

which showed the way on how to tackle the ultras, he said.

"Congress has no clear policy on countering Naxalism... It is Chhattisgarh which has shown the way on measures to counter insurgency due to its clear policy," Jaitley said.

"Congress leaders have either prevented direct action against them or compromised politically to their cause by issuing statements in their interest," he said while referring to Sonia Gandhi's letter to party men in which she attributed the rise of Naxalism to the government's wrong policies of neglecting tribal areas, reported Times of India.

When pointed out that Maoists had targeted and massacred Congress leaders, Jaitley said, "Everyone knows what happened and one Congress leader had even spilled the beans by accusing his own leadership of hatching the conspiracy."

Attacking the Centre over price rise, he said consistent rise in prices of vegetables and petroleum products had made the poor and the middle classes to stand against Congress.

Referring to Ajit Jogi's tenure as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Jaitely said the state was under a "black rule" before 2003 and since BJP took over the government it started achieving "double digit growth" under the BJP.

The Food Security Law of Chhattisgarh was better than the Centre's, as it has wider coverage, volume and the breadth, he claimed.

Exuding confidence of better performance in the Assembly elections in five states including Chhattisgarh, Jaitley said the results would have impact on the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)