A group of intellectuals and others on Sunday urged Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to make efforts to persuade the Centre to announce a ceasefire and agree to peace talks with the CPI (Maoists).
The group, comprising retired professor Haragopal, retired judge Justice Chandra Kumar, and others, submitted a memorandum to Reddy in this regard, a CMO release said.
The chief minister told them that his government views naxalism from a social perspective and not merely as a law and order issue, the release added.
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Recalling that senior Congress leader K Jana Reddy had held peace talks with the Maoists in 2004 as Home Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, the chief minister told the group that the government would seek his advice on the matter.
He also said that a decision would be taken after discussions with cabinet ministers, it said.
The development comes against the backdrop of intense anti-Maoist operations being carried out by security forces in Chhattisgarh and other states.
A massive operation against Naxalites, involving about 10,000 security personnel along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, continued, with the Maoists purportedly issuing a statement for the fifth day on Friday, in which they called for halting the exercise and holding "peace talks".
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