Date:22/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/22/stories/2005012208000400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

BJP blames Government for stalemate

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JAN. 21. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has blamed the State Government and its political compulsions for the stalemate in talks with the Maoists and said the latter was not at fault.

The BJP's former national president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, told presspersons on Friday that the Government was plagued with confusion, contradiction and compulsion and it had no clarity on the talks.

The Government should analyse the issue and categorise the problem, he said, adding that whether to continue the talks or not was the issue.

In the run-up to the polls, the Congress had supported the talks only to put the TDP-BJP combine in a spot and that only this compulsion had made it go ahead with the first round.

The naxalites were sure that they could achieve their objectives only through the barrel of the gun.

To a question, Mr. Naidu said the Opposition's stand was very clear that the naxalites cannot move freely with weapons.

There was no question of a parallel administration in a democracy and only the police had the right to carry arms, he said.

With Ministers expressing divergent views on the talks issue, it looked like the Government was engaged most of the time in damage control, he said.