New Delhi, Apr 23 (IANS): Soft policies towards China will not work, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha said Tuesday and asked the government to take "very firm steps" to deal with the reported Chinese incursion in Ladakh region.

Stating that it was "a very serious issue", the former union minister told reporters: "Government of India should take very firm steps."

He accused the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of following a soft policy towards China and said such an approach would not work.

Sinha, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Hazaribagh, also accused the government of being "weak" and said everybody was taking it for a ride.

He said Chinese troops had not only intruded but were staying put.

Government sources said Saturday that India and China were in touch over reports of an incursion by Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh and noted that it was an area where there were "differing perceptions" of the Line of Actual Control. They said such incidents were resolved peacefully.

According to reports, troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) ventured 10 km inside the Indian territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern Ladakh and set up a post on the intervening night of April 15-16. About 100 personnel were deployed in the area at an altitude of about 17,000 feet.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has written to the central government, voicing its concern over the "deep incursion of Chinese troops on this side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh".