Congress suggests twin approach to deal with Maoists

October 6th, 2009 RANCHI - Police officer Francis Enduwar, abducted by Maoists five days ago, has been killed in Jharkhand, a senior police official said Tuesday. The Maoists had demanded that three of their leaders, including Kobad Ghandy, be released in exchange for Enduwar.

September 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee hailed the good showing of Trinamool Congress in civic polls in Darjeeling district as victory over state-sponsored terrorism. In the 47-member district council, the Trinamool Congress and the Congress combine bagged 15 seats each.

September 4th, 2009 RAIPUR - Police recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of four tribal men in the jungles of Chhattisgarh's Bastar region Friday. Police said Maoists had killed the men accusing them of being police spies.

August 20th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Maoists Thursday blew up a forest range office in Orissa's Sundergarh district, police said. About 30 rebels, in two vehicles, came to the office at Tamra under the Banki police station around 2 p.m.

August 12th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - At least three Maoists were killed Wednesday in a gunfight with police in Orissa's Rayagada district, officials said. A joint team of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh police fatally shot the militants in a forested area under Chandili police station, about 45 km from the district headquarter of Rayagada, Ashish Kumar Singh, district superintendent of police, told IANS.

July 24th, 2009 KOLKATA - A police official was abducted by a group of suspected Maoists Friday evening in the troubled Lalgarh region of West Bengal, following which a gun battle ensued between the rebels and security personnel, police said. "We came to know that a policeman was abducted by a group of Maoists in Lalgarh-Ramgarh region.

July 18th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa police personnel deployed in anti-Maoist operations are upset with the state government for not meeting their long-pending demands for modern equipment to tackle the rebels and have threatened "non-cooperation". "The Maoists continue kill us at will almost in all parts of the state.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday cautioned the Centre to be careful over the issue of Maoist threat and address the problem with all the seriousness it deserved. The party blamed the Congress-led UPA government for having a laid back approach over the persisting threat from Maoists.

July 4th, 2009 PATNA - Suspected Maoists Saturday hijacked two buses in Gaya district after letting the passengers get off, police said. The Maoists stopped the two private vehicles near Dumaria and asked the passengers to get down, police said.

June 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Monday accused West Bengal's ruling Left Front of being in cahoots with the Maoists saying the Communists had used the rebels to win the polls in the western districts. "The Left used Maoists to rig the elections and now they are saying Maoists helped the Trinamool.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday opposed a ban on the Maoists, saying that declaring the Leftwing rebels as terrorists was no solution, and political and administrative measures should be used instead to check their growth. Reacting to the union home ministry's declaration of the Communist Party of India-Maoist as a terrorist outfit, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said that the "Maoists must be combated politically and administratively".

June 19th, 2009 New Delhi, June 19 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said the security forces would take more time than previously anticipated, though they were moving cautiously towards the Maoist claimed "liberated zone" in West Bengal state.

June 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Members and supporters of the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) staged a sit-in demonstration in national capital on Thursday to protest against the violence by the Maoists in the West Medinipur ditrict of West Bengal. "As far as Maoists are concerned these are gangs who believe in violence.

June 18th, 2009 AGARTALA - Maoist violence and the ensuing tension in West Bengal should be dealt with administratively, ideologically and politically, said Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is also a senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader. "The Left movements in Bengal and across the country are matured enough and have full strength to tackle the Maoist hostility and associated enmity in Bengal," Sarkar told newsmen here Thursday before leaving for New Delhi for a CPI-M politburo meeting.

May 10th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday said Maoist guerrillas of West Bengal were dummies planted by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to split the anti-Left votes in the state. 'The so-called Maoists are nothing but dummy organisations of the CPI-M in the state.