Ranchi, Feb 9 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren skipped union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s meeting in Kolkata to discuss the proposed offensive against the Maoists because he was unwell and had to be admitted to hospital, his aides said Tuesday.
“Soren could not leave for Kolkata as he fell ill early Tuesday morning,” said Soren’s press advisor Safiq Ansari.

“He is suffering from a blood pressure problem. He has been admitted to Apollo hospital of Ranchi,” Ansari told IANS.

Deputy Chief Ministers Sudesh Mahto and Raghubar Das represented the Jharkhand government at Chidambaram’s meeting with the governments of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand to chalk out a comprehensive inter-state operation against the Maoists.

While Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and West Bengal’s Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee attended, Soren and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar could not make it.

According to doctors, Soren is suffering from high blood pressure and would be kept under observation for 48 hours.

“Soren has been kept in a separate room and he has been kept under observation. He is suffering from high blood pressure. Initial test reports are normal,” said Dr P.D. Sinha of Apollo hospital.

In political circles, however, Soren’s decision to not attend the meeting with Chidambaram is being seen differently.

Top Maoist leader, Kishanji of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), had reportedly said in a statement to the local media that the door for dialogues would be closed forever if Soren attended the meeting.

“Soren’s move not to attend the meeting in Kolkata after the Maoist warning will send the wrong message. This will embolden the morale of the Maoists. Soren could have attended the meeting if he wanted to,” said Congress leader Alok Dubey.

The banned CPI-Maoist has called a three-day strike in four states - Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal - to protest the proposed offensive against them known as Green Hunt.