Continuing with his programme of meeting chief ministers of Naxalite-hit states to chalk out a strategy to launch joint operations against the Maoists, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is going to chair a meeting on February 9 of four chief ministers — Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of West Bengal, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, Naveen Patnaik of Orissa and Shibu Soren of Jharkhand.

The meeting will take place at the Writers' Buildings in Kolkata. Apart from the Union minister and the four chief ministers, senior officials of both the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and of all the four states will be present. "The meeting is aimed at finding out a strategy to flush out Naxals and conducting a joint operation involving the four states," State Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen said today.

On January 22 Chidambaram had his first meeting with Patnaik, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil at Raipur in Chhattisgarh. After that meeting Chidambaram had said that the aim behind the joint operation was to establish first the rule of law at areas dominated by Naxals.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand Chief Minister will be attending a meeting to discuss a strategy to tackle the Naxal problem for the first time on February 9. Earlier, despite several requests from the Bengal government, Soren remained indifferent. However, due to intense pressure from the Centre, the Jharkhand CM gave in.