The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Eschew vote bank politics: M.S. Bitta

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Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Eschew vote bank politics: M.S. Bitta

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Former Youth Congress president and now chairman of the Anti-Terrorist Front, M.S. Bitta, said that terrorism could be wiped out only with a concrete will and when political parties pledged to give ‘vote bank’ politics a break for at least a year. He was speaking to presspersons here in the city on Tuesday after visiting both Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat, the sites of Saturday’s bomb blasts. He also went to the hospitals where the injured were undergoing treatment and spent time with them.

A former Home Minister in the Beant Singh Cabinet in Punjab, he recalled how with a free hand that former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao gave to the powers-that-be, they could wipe out terrorism in just about a year with then DGP K.P.S. Gill adopting the ‘bullet for a bullet’ policy.

Stress on political will

Mr. Bitta said there was no doubt that the success achieved in strife-torn Punjab, where everyday life was affected for close to two decades, could be replicated elsewhere in India.

“All that is needed is the will for political parties to give up ‘vote bank’ politics and abide by the verdicts given by the courts. Also, the practice of appealing to the President of India seeking clemency should be dispensed with,” he said.

Expanding on the special courts, he said such an agency, if given a free hand, would surely be able to dispose of cases in a span of six months.

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