Chidambaram offers to quit after Naxal attack; PM rejects it

Union home minister P Chidambaram offered to quit his post in the wake of the Dantewada massacre by Naxals, but prime minister Manmohan Singh today rejected his resignation.

Taking full responsibility, Chidambaram, 64, said this morning that the buck stopped at his desk with regard to the Tuesday's Naxal attack.

"The home minister gave it (his resignation) in writing the day before yesterday. The prime minister rejected it," a PMO spokesperson said.

Speaking at a CRPF function in New Delhi, Chidambaram said, "I have been asked directly or indirectly where the buck  stops for what happened in Dantewada. I have no hesitation saying the buck stops at my desk.

"I accept full responsibility for what happened in Dantewada. Immediately on my return from Chhattisgarh, I called on the prime minister and gave it in writing that I accept full responsibility for what happened and I think I will stop there," he said.

Declining to go any further, he said, "Let me not elaborate. I am proud of the CRPF."

In the attack on April 6, 75 personnel from CRPF's 62nd Battalion and one Chhattisgarh policeman were killed in an ambush by the Maoists in Dantewada.

During a visit to Naxal stronghold of Lalgarh in West Bengal on April 4, Chidambaram had said he had told chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that the "buck stops" with him on ending political violence in the state.

Upset over the remark, the chief minister had said this was not the language used by politicians and that he will do his job and the home minister should do his.