Chhattisgarh MLAs hold closed-door meeting on Naxal menace

The members of the Chhattisgarh Assembly today spoke for hours on the Naxal issue and gave suggestions to handle the country's biggest internal security threat at a historic secret sitting "" the first in the parliamentary history of Independent India.

The House assembled at 11 am for the sitting. Barring three top state officials, the chief secretary, the principal secretary (home) and the director general of police, no one was allowed entry.

According to the schedule, the sitting was to end at 3 pm. But it was extended for three hours, followed by another two hours, as members reportedly showed great enthusiasm in participating in the debate on the Left radical group's activities, which have taken grim proportion in the state.

According to a senior member of the Congress, secret sittings of Parliament or assemblies are generally held during wartime. "Since the state government also took the initiative to hold the meeting, it underlines that the red terror has assumed the proportion of a war," he said. In India, the last such meeting was when the central assembly met in 1942.

Since it was a discussion on "war" strategy, the members were also frank enough to advise the government to go offensive against the red army and take the menace to a conclusion.

"Cutting across party barriers, most of the members suggested that the government should prepare the force for a war and go offensive against the rebels," a member of the ruling party said.

Before the proceedings started, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said the state would implement the suggestions after examining them.