AP Govt ready to resume talks with Maoists: minister

Kakinada, Aug 11 (UNI) Small Scale Industries Minister Gollapalli Suryarao today said the Andhra Pradesh government was ready to resume talks with the Maoists to establish permanent peace.

Talking to newspersons after inaugurating the Rs 21 lakh Sarpavaram police station building here, he renewed his call to the Maoists to join the mainstream on the lines of their Nepal counterparts.

''The state government is ready to resume talks with the Maoists with a view to establish permanent peace. Now, the ball is in their court,'' he said.

Claiming that extremist menace was routed to the extent of 93 per cent and people were living in utmost peace, he maintained that the people, especially those in the Agency and Backward regions were now happy and had waned away from the Maoists' influence.

Even the youth had got a new direction with the government providing them employment to distance them from the extremists, Mr Suryarao said.

Andhra Pradesh was far ahead of other states in law and order front, if successful implementation of various developmental schemes of the state government were any indication, he added.

UNI XR VA SJ RL PM1906