I respect Orissa Govt decision on hostage crisis

"It`s not important whether we agree or disagree. The matter was handled by the state government and it was a sensitive matter. They have handled it to the best of their ability," he said.

He referred to Orissa government`s decision to release five people, including a writer, three women and one driver of a car in exchange of District Collector of Malkangiri Veenil Krishna who was abducted by Maoists.

Chidambaram said if that judgement has been taken by the government of Orissa as an appropriate response to a difficult situation, he respected that judgement.

Asked about reports that he differed with Patnaik on release of alleged Maoists in exchange of the abducted IAS officer, Chidambaram asked the reporter to check with the authors of the story.