No talks with Maoists till they shun violence: CPI-M leader

October 11th, 2009 MUMBAI - Asking Maoists to shed weapons, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday asserted that the country would see "positive development" in the coming months in the war against Maoist violence. I always maintain that Naxalism (Maoism) is the greatest internal threat to our security.

October 9th, 2009 NAGPUR - More than 300 security personnel Friday hunted for Maoists who massacred 17 policemen after ambushing them in a jungle strip in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. The bodies of the slain policemen were brought to Gadchiroli town for state honours before they are handed over to their families for the final rites, even as Chief Minister Ashok Chavan vowed to crush the Maoists.

October 8th, 2009 NAGPUR - In a major attack days before the assembly polls, Maoist guerrillas Thursday ambushed a police patrol and gunned down at least 17 policemen in a jungle stretch of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Suspected Maoists also slit the throat of a police informer and dumped his body in the same district, police said.

October 8th, 2009 NAGPUR - Maoist guerrillas Thursday ambushed a police patrol and gunned down at least 18 policemen in a jungle stretch of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, officials said. The massacre occurred about a kilometre from Laheri village when the policemen were trekking through thick forests in search of hidden Maoists, an official of the Gadchiroli district police told IANS.

August 15th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Describing the Maoist insurgency as the biggest challenge facing the state and the country, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in his Independence Day speech Saturday, urged the rebels to shun violence and return to the mainstream. We are taking strong steps to combat Naxalism.

July 22nd, 2009 KOLKATA - Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Wednesday demanded an end to the joint security operation against Maoist rebels in the trouble-torn belt of Lalgarh in West Bengal. "The joint operation should stop," Banerjee said and emphasised the need for talks with Maoists to solve the issue.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party Wednesday accused the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) of adopting double standards on banning the Maoist extremists. The CPI-M is adopting double standards with regard to the ban on the Maoists.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday said it was against a ban on the Leftwing outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist and the rebels should be tackled instead through political and administrative measures. Reacting to the union home ministry's declaration of the CPI-Maoist as a terrorist outfit, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here that the "Maoists must be combated politically and administratively".

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 20th, 2009 BANGALORE - Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Saturday said Maoists in West Bengal's Lalgarh are willing to sit at negotiating table if their basic demands for water and electricity are met. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who is the founder of the Art of Living foundation, Friday talked to rebel leader Chakradhar Mahato and asked the group to lay down their arms.

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 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the government is "worried about the consequences" of the violence in West Bengal where three activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were killed by suspected Maoists Wednesday.

February 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is now reluctant to take up the offer for peace talks made by the Maoists twice recently, after the leftist rebels killed three CRPF troopers in an ambush Feb 19. Spokesperson of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), Pandu alias Pandanna, had offered twice within a month to hold peace talks with the government to find a solution to the decade-old Maoist militancy in the state.

February 17th, 2009 RANCHI - Saying that the Maoist youths were good at heart, as they were fighting against 'corruption and disparity', Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar appealed to the Maoist rebels to shun bullets in favour of the ballot. 'I appeal to Maoist rebels to shun bullets for the ballot.

December 30th, 2008 HYDERABAD - The Maoist violence has touched the lowest ebb ever in Andhra Pradesh with 30 percent decline in extremist activities during 2008, a top police official said Wednesday. The police top brass have termed this as the biggest success as the state was earlier considered one of the major strongholds of Maoists in India.