New Delhi: In an oblique attack on his cabinet colleague Shivraj Patil, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today said a weak Home Minister cannot handle the Naxalite activities, which are fast spreading in many states.

"Initially I wanted to become Home Minister or Defence Minister, who could handle the situation of riots or Maoists. A weak Home Minister cannot handle Maoists, who are fast spreading their activities from Chattisgarh to Nepal border", he said at a function organised by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

However, he did not take any names. Apparently taking a dig at the Left, over food riots in West Bengal, Prasad told the Marxists that people would not get food by raising revolutionary slogans but only through investments in power and other infrastructure that would create jobs for the rural people.

Prasad said in West Bengal people were indulging in violence due to mishandling of the Nandigram controversy over acquisition of land for industries.

"Although it is (Trinamool Congress chief) Mamata Banerjee who is instigating the people, but if the people are forced to surrender their land without adequate compensation, they would be attracted by the Naxalites," he said.

Source : PTI