Maoists give poll boycott call, bandh

Hyderabad, June 26 (UNI) Accusing the Congress Government here of carrying out killings under the guise of encounters, the CPI (Maoist) today called for a bandh on June 27 and boycott of local body elections scheduled for June 28 and July two.

In a statement to a section of the media, the Maoists cited instances in which their colleagues Ravi Kumar, Suresh, Jagadish were 'killed by the police' in Anantapur District in the past 10 days and also the recent attack on CPI (Maoist) Central Committee Member Sudhakar.

The local body polls are nothing but a farce being carried out in the guise of 'Gramswaraj'. In the past five decades, not even the minimum facilities were provided to the atleast six lakh villages in the country, they said.

In the statement, Maoist Secretary Madhav, North Telangana Special Committee Secretary Jampanna and Andhra-Orissa Special Zonal Committee Secretary Bhaskar called upon students, intellectuals, employees, teachers, business establishments to cooperate and make the bandh a success.

Meanwhile, police have reviewed the situation and enhanced the security cover for Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

District Superintendents of Police and Commissioners have been asked to review the security situation before allowing Mr Reddy any Minister into their limits.

Ministers and MLAs campaigning for elections in villages have been asked to return to district headquarters by night for security reasons.

UNI ASJ GM AK ND1402