Ranchi, Jan 22 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren said Friday he was not against the special anti-Maoist operation Green Hunt, but has also asked the rebels to come forward for a dialogue.
“I am not against Green Hunt operation. The operations are going on in Jharkhand,” Soren told reporters.

He said: “I have asked the Maoists to stop killing people and urged them to come forward for dialogue. We want to know what they actually want from us. Why they are against us.”

Asked by reporters why he had not been invited for a meeting of chief ministers with union Home Minister P. Chidamabram in Raipur, Soren said the meeting was of three states.

His assertion came even as the state police said they were readying to launch special operations against the rebels.

“Seventy to 75 percent of preparations are completed for the special operations against Maoists. The preparations are going on at different levels,” Jharkhand Director General of Police (DGP) Neyaz Ahmad said in a joint conference with Home Secretary J.B. Tubid.

Asked about the delay in launching the special operations, Ahmed said, “Because of the assembly elections the preparations got delayed. We are now well on the job.”

The Jharkhand police chief and home secretary called a joint press conference to clear the confusion over the central government’s proposed special anti-Maoist operation, called Green Hunt.

Tubid said that Chief Minister Shibu Soren has “opened a channel of dialogue (with Maoists) by offering the rebels to come forward for dialogue. The chief minister’s move does not mean the state government is lenient or soft while dealing with the Maoist issue.”

“We categorically say there is no change in the state government’s policies or operations against Maoists. The state government’s policies are the same as it was a year ago about the Maoists,” said Tubid.

He addd: “We are not aware of any terminology Green Hunt. The operations are going on as usual in Jharkhand.”

The Jharkhand home secretary clarified that the deployment of forces for the anti-Maoist operation was done as in the past.

After Shibu Soren took charge of the state in December last year there was confusion regarding the special operations against Maoist guerrillas in the state.

Meanwhile, in Raipur Home Minister P. Chidambaram said that states had agreed to coordinate action against Maoist guerrillas and that the central government’s goal was to reassert authority in rebel bastions.

“(Our aim is) to reassert the civil administration, to be followed immediately by development in areas dominated by Naxalites (Maoists) for quite some years,” Chidambaram said after a meeting with top officials of Orissa, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh here.

Asked to comment on reports that the Shibu Soren government has decided to go slow on anti-Maoist drives, he said: “There is a new government in Jharkhand, the chief minister and other senior officials are coming to Delhi Jan 28 to meet me on the issue.”