The Chhattisgarh police, however, said the claim seemed to be an attempt to mislead the local population, and the security forces never compromise on the safety of the local people during their operations.
According to Misri's statement, Modi said he could not accept the invitation due to a pre-existing schedule, and invited Trump to visit India for the Quad Summit, likely later this year.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren called on Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi on Wednesday and briefed him on the various measures taken by his government to tackle Naxals.
The Bharatiya Janata Party charged the Congress with attempting to politicise the Maoist attack at Baster in Chhattisgarh that claimed 27 lives, saying it is 'very unfortunate'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his Bihar assembly poll campaign, asserting that the NDA under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will break all previous electoral records. He criticized the INDIA bloc and highlighted the NDA's cohesiveness and development efforts in Bihar.
State Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu said that in 2013-14, the state had received Rs 50 crore for police modernisation from the Centre. The allocation has come down to Rs 20 crore right now.
Eight District Reserve Guards (DRG) jawans and a civilian driver were killed in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district when Naxals detonated an improvised explosive device targeting their vehicle. The incident occurred near Ambeli village while the security personnel were returning from an anti-Naxalite operation. This is the biggest Naxal attack on security forces in the region in the past two years.
I stand by my comments on Maoist strategy: Digvijay
Admitting that the police and administration had failed to rid Maoist menace in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that the ultras have to be tackled politically as it was done in 1977 when the Left Front came to power.
Vowing to combat the Naxal violence with "full vigour," the Orissa government on Tuesday said Maoists must realise that their anti-national activities can't go on.
The Maharashtra legislative assembly passed the 'Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill' aimed at preventing unlawful activities of Left Wing Extremist organizations, focusing on urban Naxalism and passive militancy.
Three security personnel suffered injuries in the fierce gun-battle and a large quantity of weapons was also recovered from the spot, the state police said.
Setting up new camps of security forces in these villages in the last seven months has been paving the way for development of the respective areas, they said.
Nearly 13.04 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Wednesday in 43 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where voting is underway in the first phase, officials said.
Deva recently replaced Hidma as commander of the Maoists' battalion no. 1, the IG added.
'Many of them are mutilated beyond recognition. Every day an encounter takes place.' 'Bastar has been burnt to ash.'
Modi said the situation is rapidly changing and a new era of peace is setting in Naxal-affected areas.
Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out military operations as an option to tackle the Maoist menace and said it is a matter of "ethical consideration" not to do so.
According to the police, these villages have never seen unfurling or hoisting of the national flag since 1947, but that will change when its residents will join the rest of the country in celebrating Republic Day, which commemorates the day when the Constitution came into effect in 1950.
With this incident, 154 Naxalites have been gunned down by the security forces in different encounters in Chhattisgarh so far this year, the police said.
Of the ten police personnel who lost their lives in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, five had joined the force after quitting Maoist violence, a senior official said on Thursday.
A cache of weapons, including an AK-47 rifle, one SLR (self-loading rifle), one INSAS rifle, one LMG rifle and one .303 rifle were also recovered from the encounter spot.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday appealed to Naxals to give up violence, lay down arms and surrender, saying an all-out operation will otherwise be carried out against them.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, in a rare instance since the undivided Shiv Sena's fall out with the BJP in 2019, praised Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday for his efforts to turn Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district into a steel city.
Shah, while releasing the saffron party's manifesto 'Sankalp Patra' for the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, announced that a Displacement Commission would be formed to ensure rehabilitation of people displaced by industries and mines in the state.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
"It is a dastardly attack and I can only tell it has strengthened our resolve to fight against this menace...," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, when asked about Monday's attack by the Maoists.
Terming Naxals the biggest human rights violators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said security forces have been carrying out 'offensive operations' instead of defensive against the insurgents and have achieved big successes in recent times.
Maoist-hit states have resolved to take a uniform approach under a national policy to deal with the Naxal problem besides launching all-out offensives against the extremists and blocking the flow of finance to them.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said there are no Maoists in West Bengal. Addressing a press conference in Kolkata on Thursday, Banerjee claimed there are about 200 camps of the Communist Party India-Marxist, which have unleashed violence across the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her party leaders and the Centre of being directly responsible for the rise in Maoist menace in Bihar with their 'pro-Naxal statements'. "Naxals have become audacious in Bihar. The Centre, Sonia Gandhi and her party leaders are directly responsible for it. By their pro-Naxal statements, they have boosted the morale of Maoists," BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay charged at a press conference.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai has said the home ministry insists that state police should play a key role with assistance from central security forces to tackle the Maoists menace.
Intensifying operations against the Naxals and chocking the flow of funds to them were the two key issues discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Union home mAmit Shah and attended by six chief ministers and top officials of four other states here on Sunday, sources said.
Hitting back at Digvijay Singh for his 'buck stops with the chief minister' remark following the massacre of security forces in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday described the Congress general secretary as 'intellectually dishonest' and blamed him for the rise in Maoist menace in the state.I have no hesitation in saying that Digvijay Singh is intellectually dishonest for a deliberate, motivated and deceitful article, Raman Singh said in a statement.
As Maoist menace continued to be unabated, the government is all set to launch the much-awaited full-fledged anti-Naxal operations at three different areas, considered tri-junctions of the worst Naxal-affected states.
After the government came under opposition attack on the handling of Naxal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the state governments have the primary responsibility to fight the Maoist menace and the Centre was ready to assist them.
Condemning the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, BJP today expressed its "shock" and concern over frequent targeting of political activist by Naxals and called for an aggressive, unified and non-partisan strategy to fight the menace.
Naxalites blew up the mini-goods van in which the security personnel were travelling by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), police sources said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the Chhattisgarh government for furnishing 'vague' information about measures taken by it to tackle the Maoist menace and said it was 'holding a brief' for Salwa Judum, an anti-Naxal vigilante group. "The affidavit (by the state government) does not give full particulars about the steps taken by it and the information furnished is totally vague," a bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said.
With Maoist violence continuing unabated, Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the country will be able to counter the menace by 2013. "We must meet the challenge to fight against Maoists and terrorism in the next two-to-three-years.
