Rahul Gandhi says political connectivity a must to bring Naxals into mainstream

Kolkata, Sep 16 (ANI): Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that political connectivity should be ensured to bring Naxals into the mainstream.

"If we give them (Naxalites) political connectivity, they will be able to join the mainstream," Gandhi told a press conference here today.

" We have to ensure political connectivity so that the people can be part of the national political mainstream and efforts should be directed towards that," he added.

He further said that Naxalism is the result of complex set of circumstance like poverty and connectivity.

Asked if Naxals wanted to join the Youth Congress during the membership drive, he said, " All are welcome except criminals and fundamentalists".

Replying to questions on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi said that it was wrong to say that Mamata Banerjee had openly sided with the Maoists." She has struggled a lot in Bengal for a long time. And, we respect her for that," he added.

Banerjee had earlier criticised the killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and said the way Azad was killed was not right. She said: "I feel the way Azad was killed is not correct. Swami Agnivesh had made him agree to hold talks (with the government). What happened was not correct," . (ANI)