8/11/2019 KCR Promises to Implement Maoist Agenda' - The Hindu

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Today's Paper NATIONAL ANDHRA PRADESH

KCR promises to implement Maoist agenda'

Special Correspondent

No objection to toeing naxal line due to their pro-people struggles, says the TRS president

Swelling support: Former naxalite Sambasivudu (right) joining the TRS in the presence of party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao atTelangana Bhavan in Hyderabad on Monday. PHOTO: G. RAMAKRISHNA

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday said he would implement the Maoistagenda' after formation of separate Telangana as there were close links' between the region and the naxalites.

Addressing a meeting to mark the admission into the party of former CPI (Maoist) State secretary Konapuri Ilaiah aliasSambasivudu, Mr. Rao said the TRS should not have objection to toe the line of the naxalites because their struggleswere aimed at fulfilment of basic needs of the poor like food and land.

SC Chief Minister

The TRS was committed to the social and economic uplift of lower castes, which constitute 85 per cent of thepopulation in Telangana, he said. The party would make a Scheduled Castes candidate the Chief Minister, while the

Deputy Chief Minister would be chosen from among the minorities. The party would distribute three acres of land withirrigation facility to all poor families. The investment on agriculture in the first year would also be borne by thegovernment, Mr. Rao added.

Sambasivudu had surrendered to the government in February 2009 and spent an year in jail, mainly in four cases. Oneof them was the killing of former Congress MLA C. Narsi Reddy at Narayanpet in Mahabubnagar district on August 15,2005. The reward of Rs. 10 lakh on his head was handed over to him after his surrender which attracted widespreadcriticism.

In the context of Sambasivudu expressing displeasure on the occasion that some people had carried on a smearcampaign against him for trying to join the TRS, Mr. Rao counselled him not to consider himself a naxalite anymore.There were already some others with ultra left wing background in the party, he said.

Mr. Rao questioned the sincerity of APCC president D. Srinivas for Telangana by deputing Eluru MP K.S. Rao for the

January 6 meeting called by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram. The region was suffering at the hands of its ownpeople, he observed.

Addressing a separate meeting of Telangana supporters in Commercial Taxes department, Mr. Rao noted that Rs.16,000 crore out of Rs. 24,000 crore tax collection in the State was generated from the region. He told another meetingof Telangana tribal teachers association that a temple and community hall in memory of Sevalal Maharaj, worshippedby tribals, would be constructed at Banjara Hills if Telangana became a reality.

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