AP Govt successful in curbing naxal menace : YSR

Hyderabad, Feb 22 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today claimed his government had succeeded in curbing naxal violence by taking several measures, besides maintaining law and order in the State.

Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks on Governor's Address for the second day in the Council, Dr Reddy claimed not even a single person had joined the naxal outfits in the past two and a half years.

The extremist outfits failed to recruit youth for their organisations due to the government's pro-active measures that provided employment opportunities to the poor youth living in naxal-infested areas and offered training to them for getting jobs.

Stating the social welfare programmes taken up by the government were showing positive results in providing employment in naxal-infested villages, he said other States were also following his government's initiatives to root out the naxal activities.

Alleging that the Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was politicising the Ayesha Mira rape and murder case, the Chief Minister said the State Police would continue with their probe till the CBI took over from them.

Referring to the August 25 twin blasts and May 18 Mecca Masjid Blasts last year, Dr Reddy said the explosions were the handiwork of cross-border terrorists.

The government had established 'OCTOPUS' to tackle terrorist activities and was recruiting more than 30,000 police personnel to strengthen the Police Department in the next three years.

The government was also ready to send a team comprising officials, legislators and mediapersons to study the law and order situation in other States to make a comparative study.

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