The Centre will review its strategy to tackle left-wing extremism, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in Raipur on Tuesday, a day after 25 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in an encounter with Maoists in Sukma, reported PTI. Singh, who arrived in the Chhattisgarh capital at 10.30 am, visited the injured personnel at the Ramkrishna Care Hospital. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Raman Singh and Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir.

Singh also visited the headquarters of the 4th battalion of the Chhattisgarh Armed Force in the Mana camp area, where a wreath-laying ceremony was held for the personnel who were killed.

The home minister said that he had called a meeting of the governments of states affected by Maoist violence on May 8, ANI reported. Describing the Sukma attack as a “cowardly act”, he said the Centre and states would work together against left-wing extremism. “It is an act of desperation. Such groups are anti-development,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the CRPF on what went wrong in Sukma, an India Today report said. The ministry believed that the attack pointed to a leadership failure and a need for operations in Maoist-hit regions to be overhauled, the report quoted sources as saying.