Monday, November 14 2005 19:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had a tough time at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting here today (Nov 14, 2005) when members raised the Naxal attack at Jehanabad areas in Bihar.

The issue was raised by Rajya Sabha MP P C Alexander when the Consultative Committee meeting was being held for police modernization, official sources said.

Immediately upon the arrival of Patil for the meeting, Alexander raised the issue of the attack and demanded a reply from the Union Home Minister as Bihar was under direct administrative control of his ministry.

Alexander was joined in the chorus by Lok Sabha MP Nikhil Kumar, whose parliamentary constituency Aurangabad falls near to Jehanabad, who said it was a complete failure of intelligence gathering mechanism, which resulted in an attack of this magnitude, they said.

Patil, who had a tough time in pacifying the members into silent, said the Government was looking into the issue and the Government's priorities was to ensure safety of those abducted by the Naxals from jail and book the culprits, the sources said.