BJP backs Chidambaram, asks him not to retreat

"Chidambaram deserves the support of the government, the support of all political parties," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters amid reports that the home minister had offered to resign following the massacre of 76 security men in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday.

Rudy said the BJP had made no demand for the resignation of the home minister. "We would like to speak clearly about it. We are not agreeable that Chidambaram should quit. The Maoists will hail it as their victory."

The BJP leader said the home minister "cannot be seen as retreating". "We expect him to face the situation boldly. We cannot see the country standing defeated by Maoists."

Asking Chidambaram "not to make confessional statements", the BJP leader said: "He should make aspirational statements to boost the morale of the security forces. The BJP will support all the endeavours of the government in its battle to finish the Leftist rebels."
 
Rudy said the home minister had become the victim of his own "the buck stops" idiom. Chidambaram at a CRPF function earlier in the day had said he accepted "full responsibility" for the Chhattisgarh massacre and said that the "buck stops at my desk".
 
The home minister had used the "buck stops" phrase earlier to criticise West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.