Will discuss with Cong leadership, says Telangana CM Revanth on talks with Maoists

HYBERABAD: The Congress government in Telangana will take a call on holding peace talks with the Communist Party of India (Maoist) after discussions with the party national leadership, chief minister Revanth Reddy said on Monday.

The statement was issued after Reddy discussed the issue with senior Congress leader and former home minister K Jana Reddy and the state government’s two advisers on public affairs, Vem Narender Reddy and K Keshava Rao, also attended the meeting on Monday.

On Sunday, the state civil liberties committee and other social activists asked the chief minister to intervene to help end the ongoing operations by security forces in the dense forests of neighbouring Chhattisgarh.

The CMO said Reddy also spoke to senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh on the phone

Revanth Reddy said the Congress government was guided by its national policies since the Congress was a national party. “So, discussions on how to put an end to the killing of Maoists in the name of Operation Kagar should take place at the national level,” the chief minister said, referring to the name used by the opposition and CPI (Maoists) to refer to operations conducted by security forces in adjoining Chhattisgarh.

“Once the Congress finalizes its stand on Operation Kagar, the Telangana government would announce its official policy on holding peace talks with the Maoists,” he added.

Former minister Jana Reddy was in-charge of the home portfolio in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and had taken the initiative to hold talks with the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People’s War (People’s War Group). At the time, Digvijaya Singh was the Congress’s in-charge of Andhra Pradesh.

The People’s War group and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) merged to form the CPI (Maoist) on September 21, 2004. The announcement was made a month later.

Reddy said the government was looking at the government’s experience of holding talks with the Maoists at the time. “I have discussed all these issues with Kesava Rao, Jana Reddy, and Digvijaya Singh. We shall come out with our policy, after discussing our stand on the issue at the national level,” he said.

On Sunday, members of the civil liberties committee and other social groups formed a Committee for Peace Talks and met the chief minister and requested him to take the initiative to hold peace talks with Maoists.

The committee members, including its convenor former high court judge B Chandra Kumar, Prof. Haragopal, Prof. Anwar Khan, Durga Prasad, among others, urged the chief minister to discuss a ceasefire with the Central government.

“A tense atmosphere is prevailing in the borders of Chhattisgarh and Telangana due to the ongoing operation at Karreguttalu area, where hundreds of Maoists are holed up. The government should immediately withdraw troops and initiate the democratic process in the area,” Haragopal said on Sunday, urging Reddy to convince the Centre for a ceasefire.

The chief minister told the committee members that his government was looking at Maoist movement only from a social perspective and did not consider it as a mere law and order issue. He added that they would seek advice from senior party leaders such as Jana Reddy who held talks with Maoists in the past, on the Maoist issue. “The state cabinet will also discuss the issue and take a decision soon,” he told them.