New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram described as "baseless" the charges levelled by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had prior information about Maoists holding up the Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express train in West Bengal on Tuesday.
"I am not at all happy that one political leader has made such allegations against another political leader," he added.
Chidambaram said it was inconceivable that if the government had prior knowledge of the holding up of the Rajdhani Express, no action would have been taken.
He said that as the Rajdhani Express was held up, people had woken up to the problem which they thought was confined to some remote areas.
"I have been giving the wake-up call for so many months," said Chidambaram on the Naxal menace.
The Minister said the Government had only one condition for talks with the Maoists - "abjure violence".
"No Government or state can stay still as long as there is violence. We are not using the term 'war'. Only the Maoists and the media are using the term 'war'. No civilised state will wage war against its own people," he said.
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