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Spell stand on violence, Naidu tells Sonia

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday asked All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi to spell out her party's stand on political violence, extremism and power sector reforms.

At a press conference in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the Congress was pursuing different strategies in different states. In Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, Congress governments were fighting left-wing extremism but in Andhra Pradesh, it was colluding with the extremist elements to perpetrate violence. He accused the Congress of encouraging political violence in Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu said that the Maharashtra and Rajasthan governments had hiked the power tariff. At the same time, in Andhra Pradesh, the party had been opposing the hike. "If you say that your party is playing a dual role and pursuing one policy in one state and a different one in another, we will welcome it. The people will decide how this party is acting and its leaders are behaving," he remarked.

He recalled that Sonia Gandhi's husband, late Rajiv Gandhi, fell victim to terrorist violence. But Sonia Gandhi had not opposed the violent acts of Congress activists during the anti-power hike agitation and at the chalo assembly rally in Hyderabad on Monday, he pointed out.

He read out from a statement issued by the AICC president in Delhi. "She has complimented her party activists for indulging in violence," he quipped.

He demanded a national debate on the issue of political violence because the country could ill-afford the menace. He also stressed the need for a code of conduct for political parties.

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