Digvijay hits back at Raman over Naxal problem

Digvijay Singh has hit back at Raman Singh over the Naxal problem asking him to compare the number of killings of policemen and civilians by Maoists during their tenure as chief ministers of undivided Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh rexpectively.

Digvijay Singh has hit back at Raman Singh over the Naxal problem asking him to compare the number of killings of policemen and civilians by Maoists during their tenure as chief ministers of undivided Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh rexpectively.

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In a letter written to Raman Singh, Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary and a former MP chief minister, has challenged the BJP leader for a debate on the naxal problem.

Posing a series of questions to Raman, Digvijay asked "Where was the state police force when the Dantewada massacre took place? Also is it not a fact that while your neighbouring states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have managed to comparatively control naxal menace, in Chhattisgarh a major part of the state has gone under their control?"

"During my tenure how much funds were received from the then NDA government for combating naxal menace and how much money the current BJP-led state government has received from the UPA government at the Centre, and how have you used that sum. I hope you will reply to all my queries," the Congress leader has written.

Raman Singh last week in an article titled "Honey, I Sunk Bastar", which he distributed in the media, had lambasted Digvijay Singh, alleging that "during seven years of his tenure as the CM of undivided Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay systematically exploited the natural resources of Chhattisgarh without ploughing anything back into this region".

Raman had also mentioned how Chhattisgarh had become a backward region during Digvijay's tenure.

He had written the letter in reply to the Congress general secretary's article in a national daily in which he attacked the BJP rule in Chattisgarh for poverty in Naxal-hit Bastar.

Digvijay Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years between December 1993 and November 2003. Out of this, he was CM for seven years of undivided Madhya Pradesh. The state was split in November 2000 to create a new state Chhattisgarh.