Rahul sees NREGP as tool to combat Naxalites

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi sees National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) as an effective tool to combat Naxalism in the country.

“Naxalism is mushrooming in the pockets where the government has failed to reach,” Gandhi said while talking to reporters here today. "To contain the problem, the state governments should implement the Centre’s schemes effectively," he added.

The Andhra Pradesh government had effectively implemented the NREGP in the state from where the Naxalites had been rooted out now. The state had been once the worst Naxalite-infested territory in the country.

“I feel that the Chhattisgarh government has failed to reach out to the people in the Naxalite-infested region that has given fertile ground for the rebels to establish their base,” Gandhi said, adding that the state government should implement the Centre’s schemes such as NREGP to tackle the problem.

The Congress General Secretary, however, parried a question regarding who has to be blamed for the failure of the government to reach the remote areas when his party ruled the country and state for about four decades.

"Naxalite problem is now a national problem," Gandhi, who is here on a two-day visit to participate in party’s students’ wing programmes, said. The affected states should join hands to combat the problem by drawing joint strategy, he added.