The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : PCC chief cool to TRS demand

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Saturday, Jan 22, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

PCC chief cool to TRS demand

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, JAN. 21. A delegation of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which met the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, K. Keshava Rao, today to demand a halt to police encounters for paving the way for the resumption of peace talks, was once again asked to "fall in line with Government policy."

A similar advice had come from the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Thursday when the TRS leaders petitioned him on the naxalite issue. The delegation, which went to impress upon the APCC chief the urgent necessity for "restraining the police," had no answer to Dr. Keshava Rao's posers on the naxal violence, sources said.

The PCC chief silenced them by asking whether they welcomed the killings and violence committed by the naxalites and whether they justified the elimination of political leaders in the rural areas.

Coalition dharma

Addressing a press conference, Dr. Rao said contrary to media reports, there was no difference of opinion between the Government and the party on the strategy to curb naxal violence. Being an alliance partner in the coalition Government, the TRS was a party to this stand and, hence, could not question these decisions, he had held.

Dr. Keshava Rao emphasised that it was not as if the TRS leadership was opposed to the Government but it was only seeking an assurance on the Government's commitment to the peace process. He had reassured them that the Government was prepared to hold talks with the naxals as many times as necessary.

He rebutted the charge that the Government had changed its stand on the controversial Clause `7' prohibiting the naxals from carrying weapons during the peace process. Yet, it had allowed them to hold public meetings, propagate their ideology and treated their leaders as State guests during the first round of the talks.

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