Govt. to hold all-party meet on Naxal issue today

The Central Government will hold an all-party meeting today to discuss ways to tackle Naxal menace in the backdrop of May 25 audacious attack in Chhattisgarh that killed 28 people including three prominent Congress leaders

A decision in this regard was taken at the meeting of the UPA Coordination Committee last week at the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's 7 RCR residence, which was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, NCP President Sharad Pawar, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and IUML chief E Ahamed.

The Prime Minister had earlier told the chief minister's conference on internal security that the government's two-pronged anti-Maoist strategy of sustained operations and addressing development issues needed to be strengthened.

"I must also emphasize here that the two-pronged strategy that we have followed so far needs to be strengthened and pursued with rigour. Even as we intensify our efforts to strengthen the security and intelligence apparatus in areas affected by Maoist violence, we should be able to ensure that people residing in Left Wing Extremist affected areas are able to live in an environment of peace and security and derive full benefits of our development efforts," he added.

Heavily-armed Maoists had on May 25 ambushed a convoy of Congress leaders in the state's Bastar district, killing 28 people including PCC chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh, Congress leader Mahendra Karma and ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar and injuring 37 others.