P Chidambaram in Guwahati on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Jan. 1: Home minister P. Chidambaram was off the block and ready to hit blast-ridden Guwahati within hours of getting the news about the serial attacks.

Scheduled to visit Assam today anyway to review counter-insurgency operations, the home minister didn’t waste time in facing the situation head-on.

So, it was pure luck that Chidambaram, who took over from Shivraj Patil after the Mumbai attacks in November, achieved what his predecessor couldn’t in his four-and-a-half years: be at the right place at the right time.

Faced with his first blast case, Chidambaram was actually too close for comfort. The second explosion in a crowded area in Bhootnath around 5.30pm was bang in the middle of the route the minister would have taken.

Minutes after chairing the first meeting of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC), which has been given legal backing to exchange intelligence inputs among all agencies, including those of states, Chidambaram received news of the first blast that ripped through a market in Birubari at 2.30pm.

Ministry sources say Chidambaram then decided to get his Embraer Jet ready. The Centre has five such jets at its disposal.

One took off within two hours of the blasts with the minister, along with officials of the ministry overseeing the Northeast and that of the Intelligence Bureau, reaching Guwahati at 7pm.

For many who had wondered whether Patil concentrated on his varied attires in a series of public appearances after the Delhi blasts, the current home minister, clad in his familiar white attire, consulting with the Assam police chief on the Guwahati airport tarmac would have been a calming sight.

PMO sources indicated that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, scheduled to leave at 6pm tomorrow for Assam — the state from where he was elected to the Rajya Sabha — to attend the Science Congress in nearby Shillong, was also contemplating a change in plans. He might leave early tomorrow and visit the blast victims.

Earlier, before leaving for Assam, Chidambaram had discussions with officers of the Intelligence Bureau, RAW and military intelligence on the functions, powers and duties the MAC, established in the IB, will have now.

The meeting came a day after an executive order was issued, under which the MAC is obliged to share intelligence with all other agencies, including those of states and Union territories.

In Assam, Chidambaram is scheduled to hold talks with chief minister Tarun Gogoi to review the situation in the Bodo heartland in view of the recent split in the outlawed National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and the measures required to thwart strikes by the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) in the run-up to Republic Day.

There is confusion among the state’s security top brass as the Centre has not communicated its decision on extending the ceasefire, which expired last night, with the NDFB.