Govt to take urgent steps to counter naxalism : Sonia

New Delhi, Nov 17 (UNI) Congress President Sonia Gandhi today termed naxalism a serious challenge to the nation's security and said the UPA Government would take urgent steps to deal with the scourge.

''I agree with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that naxalism is a major challenge to the country's security,'' Ms Gandhi said, addressing the 17th AICC session.

She said extremism was both a law and order problem as well as a social issue.

''We have to pay special attention to land ownership and check forceful grabbing of land,'' she said in an apparent reference to the Nandigram violence in West Bengal, allegedly unleashed by Maoists.

She said the Centre would extend all help to the affected States to deal with the problem politically.

''Continuous political measures are the only way to deal with this sort of extremism,'' she said.

UNI