Admitting that the Dantewada massacre was a failure of command and control, home minister P Chidambaram said on Monday that responsibility for the lapse will be fixed right up to his level.

He also ruled out use of Army and Air Force in the naxal affected areas but said government was examining whether a special force could be used to supplement the para military forces.

The use of aircraft could be considered for surveillance, logistics and evacuation. "There is no proposal to use Army or Air Force against naxals," he said.

Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the Dantewada incident in which 76 security personnel were killed early this month, Chidambaram said "surely action will be taken based on the report" (of the one-man committee going into what went wrong that led to the massacre).

He said the preliminary inquiry showed the incident was a result of "terrible failure of command and control" and added that he has asked the Ram Mohan panel to "fix responsibility" right from the Assistant Commandant up to the Union Home Minister.

The report is expected to come by April 25, he said.

"We are a robust democracy. We must allow various shades of opinion and it is the government which has to evolve a policy," Chidambaram said referring to attacks by the opposition which said Congress was not united on the issue of tackling naxalism.

Apparently referring to Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, CPI-M member Sitaram Yechury alleged that an ally of UPA and a Cabinet member had boycotted the meetings convened by West Bengal government as also the debates in both Houses of Parliament on naxal issue.

To this, Chidamabram said that Yechury's problem with an "unnamed antagonist" would be resolved in "12 months from now" politically, apparently referring to the assembly polls in West Bengal next year.

Replying to a point made by Brinda Karat (CPI-M) that her party cadres were being killed by Maoists, he said cadres of more than one party were being killed in West Bengal and he had taken up the issue with the Chief Minister to see that the inter-party clashes were put to an end.

He said while tackling naxal menace, socio-economic aspects should be kept in mind and doors should always remain open for dialogue with those who abjure violence.

"We have not swerved from this path. Our policy remains the same. It is a serious law and order problem. We will talk, we will act, we will restore law and order and we will bring development in those areas," he said adding the question was which of these priorities came first."